Boys’ Latin Football Loses Heartbreaker

The Maryland Christian Saints never had the lead – and trailed from early in the second quarter until the final play of a football game at Boys’ Latin on Saturday.  Yet that last second, 26-yard field goal off the foot of Josiah Avery gave the Saints a one-point lead and a 16-15 win over the Lakers.

The winning boot came after Boys’ Latin head coach Ritchie Schell called two consecutive times out to try to ice the Saints place-kicker.

“I knew the Lord would help me with it – I was just saying, he wants me to make it, he’ll make it; he want’s me to miss it, I’ll miss it,” Avery said after the game.  “I wasn’t worried about the icing – I knew the Lord was with me.”

Avery also played a major offensive role by hauling in several passes, including a first half touchdown pass and a leaping 24-yard grab on a first and 25 in the final drive to pull the Saints from their 11 to their 35-yard line.

The play of Avery, Saints quarterback Christian DiPaola, and running backs Michael James and Evan Chase spoiled a gritty effort put forth by the Lakers.

Ben Pridemore, who at times played quarterback and at others ran the ball for BL, along with the rushing of Brandon Cherry and Pat McManus, and the passing of Andrew Roswell gave the Lakers a 15-6 lead that they carried into the fourth quarter.

And, McManus and Cherry each had a rushing touchdown for Boys’ Latin.

McManus put the Lakers on the board in the second quarter from six yards, culminating an eight-play, 69 yard scoring drive.  A pass from Pridemore to Christian Knight was good for 49 yards during the drive, yet a bench penalty pushed the ball back 15 yards to the Maryland Christian 35.  The Lakers were then pushed back another 10 yards on an offensive hold but two consecutive runs by Pridemore gained 19 yards, followed by a six-yard first down run by McManus.  Pridemore then ripped off another 14 yards before McManus reached for the end zone on his six-yard score.

Cherry capped off a three-play, 55-yard scoring drive by darting through a right-side hole and scooting 35 yards in the third quarter.  The drive began on the defensive side with a Tom Brown fumble recovery at the BL 45.  Pridemore started the offensive portion of the drive with a six-yard gain on the right side.  Then Cherry bulled forward for 14 yards, setting up the 35-yard scoring play.

Defensively, Nick Gesualdi intercepted a first quarter pass deep in Laker territory to thwart a Saint scoring drive and Brown’s fumble recovery set up the second Laker score.  Shawn Mulroy and Greg Sheetz played tough defensive for the Lakers, as did Greg Pyke who helped make several stops and was in on at least one quarterback sack.

“We didn’t make the plays that we needed to make; we let Maryland Christian back in the game,” said Schell, the Lakers head coach.  “I was pleased with the effort, but we have to get rid of the mistakes.”

One of those mistakes came in the closing seconds of the first half when – with the Lakers threatening to score – the Saints’ Alex Hewitt intercepted a pass deep in Saint territory and returned it 60 yards to the Lakers 15.  That set up a touchdown pass from DiPaola to Avery with 23 ticks on the first half clock.

The Lakers fell to 0-2 for the season but have a clean slate in the B conference of the Maryland Independent Athletic Association (MIAA), where they have yet to play an opponent.  The Lakers next game is at MIAA A conference McDonogh on September 16.