By E. Shawn Aylsworth
Managing Editor
INDIANAPOLIS â??? The Lawrence Township rivals may have come into the game with the same coachesâ?? poll ranking (No. 10 in Class 5A), but the season-opening Victory Bell contest sure didnâ??t play out that way.
Veteran host Lawrence North utilized a big-play running game and a dominating defensive performance to lay a 35-zip shellacking on an inexperienced Lawrence Central squad Aug. 19 in the annual contest named after the late longtime township coach.
|
|
LNâ??s J.T. Owens carried only nine times, but four of them went for touchdowns as the senior tailback racked up 197 yards. Owens, who had more than 1,300 yards rushing a year ago, scored on jaunts of 80, 57, 41, and 10 yards, with most of the damage occurring after he blasted through the line of scrimmage into wide-open spaces in the young Bearsâ?? defensive backfield.
To put the Wildcatsâ?? rushing effort in perspective, Lawrence Central rushed for 193 yards as a team in last yearâ??s 24-0 win to open the season.
Senior running mate Dominique Burton added another 86 yards on the ground as LN maintained a stranglehold throughout on both sides of the ball.
â??Doug Miller, our defensive coordinator, did a good job of mixing things up,â? said LN coach Tom Dilley, now 2-1 against LC since the Bears went undefeated in the series since the 1980s. â??And our defensive line did a great job taking away any semblance of a running game.â?
That would qualify as the understatement of the night. Time and again, LC quarterback Spud **** â??? the only returning offensive starter and one of only three total from last yearâ??s stellar 11-1 team â??? found multiple green-clad defenders in his face. With LNâ??s suffocating defense stonewalling the LC rushing attack, **** and coach Tim Barthelâ??s Bears were forced into their short passing game.
â??Their defense was good â??? they were just too much up front,â? Barthel said after giving his team an earnest â??nobody hereâ??s gonna quitâ? pep talk. â??Youâ??ve got to be able to run the football, and we didnâ??t.â?
LCâ??s short passing attack had some success in the first half â??? when **** wasnâ??t running for his life or watching one of his receivers drop several on-target passes. The Bears actually had a chance to go up 3-0 on the gameâ??s first drive when **** completed 5 of 7 passes, but LC stalled in the red zone and a field goal attempt failed, giving LN the ball on the 20.
The first play? Owens for 80 and a quick 7-0 lead.
â??Owens is a quick, elusive back,â? said Barthel in Understatement No. 2 of the evening.
Following an LC punt, the elder Wildcats â??? who, quite unlike LC, return 10 offensive starters, including fourth-year quarterback Brett Mesalam â??? needed just 2:17 to make it 14-0, this time on a 20-yard run by Burton.
Yet the Bears refused to give up, keeping Owens & Co. off the field for more than seven minutes with concise **** passes to senior wideout John Baldwin and ultimately reaching the LN 2 before â?¦
?· A Will Adams run gets stuffed for a four-yard loss as the first quarter ends (2nd and 6).
?· Another Adams rush nets one yard (3rd and 5).
?· **** is sacked (4th and 15).
?· ****â??s pass is knocked down by LN senior defensive lineman Tony Bent.
Ballgame, right? Well, thereâ??s Hertz, and thereâ??s not exactly â??? Lawrence North fumbles on the next play, and junior Joshua Meredithâ??s recovery gave the Bears the ball at the LN 22. At which point â?¦
?· **** is sacked by LN junior D-lineman Anthony Hicks (2nd and 15).
?· Adams carries around left end for seven yards (3rd and 8).
?· **** completes a screen pass to senior Chris Bauer for three yards (4th and 3).
?· ****â??s pass to senior Charles Davis in the right flat is incomplete.
It then took LN all of three plays to capitalize:
?· An option pitch right to Burton nets nada (2nd and 10).
?· Mesalam hits wide-open senior tight end Brian Karch well down the field for a pickup of 33 yards (1st and 10).
?· Following a five-yard penalty, Owens goes off left tackle and doesnâ??t stop till he reaches the end zone 57 yards later.
That made it 21-0 with 6:16 left in the opening half. BALLGAME. (Well, except for Owensâ?? 41-yard TD run at the 7:15 mark of the third quarter, and his 10-yard scoring scamper with 1:51 left in the third.)
Sign â??o the times
LCâ??s frustratingly offensive evening can be summed up on one play that occurred on the next possession. Faced with a 3rd and 13 at midfield, **** rolled left to pass and got simultaneously double-smoked, the ball squirting free. Several LN defenders almost picked it up before the pigskin found itself loosed again, and this time LN did recover it â??? 30 yards from the line of scrimmage.
Perhaps amazingly, though â??? and more than likely out of sheer pride â??? Lawrence Central managed to squash that scoring threat and another prior to halftime.
Mesalamâ??s 4th-and-1 quarterback sneak from the 11 came up just shy with three minutes to go. Then, after an LC three-and-out was followed by a nifty punt return to the LC 14 by (you guessed it) Owens, Mesalamâ??s lazy lob pass to the left end zone was intercepted by LC senior ***** Lima.
Mercifully, **** took a knee to run out the clock, and Barthel could only hang his head as he slowly made the walk to the halftime locker room.
A musical interlude â?¦
Following Lawrence Northâ??s â??Green Regimeâ? halftime band performance, the LN public address system blared out a hip-hop song that may very well be called â??Letâ??s Goâ? which borrows the late Randy Rhoadsâ?? unmistakable guitar riff and â??I! I! I!â? vocals of Ozzy Osbourneâ??s â??Crazy Train.â? (Somewhere the late guitarist undoubtedly is rolling over in his grave.)
Of much more pleasant olfactory experience, however, was the subsequent playing of Queenâ??s â??We Will Rock You,â? which elicited ancient memories of a TV broadcast from the late 1970s when the Brad Leaf-led Lawrence North boys basketball team was making a deep run into the Marion County Tournament.
Anyhoo, it was during that broadcast that this writer (remember: Lawrence Central â??84) ever saw fans in the stands doing the â??boom-boom (legs), CLAP (hand)â? cheer that goes along with the British rockersâ?? famous sports anthem.
Very cool.
Next up Aug. 26:
Lawrence North, which figures to make a big jump up in the 5A polls from that No. 10 spot, travels to Indianapolis Arlington, a 45-21 Week 1 loser to Bloomington South.
Lawrence Central, meanwhile, will host Pike, which lost its opener, 27-17, to North Central (Indianapolis).
What do you think? Share YOUR thoughts in our forum
Processing your request, Please wait....
