Football: Glenelg holds on for 23-20 win at Long Reach

For the second week in a row, Glenelg junior placekicker Luke Brister played a vital role in a Gladiators victory.

After kicking a 43-yard game-winning field goal with less than ten seconds left last week at previously undefeated Hammond, Brister kicked a 27-yarder in the first quarter at Long Reach (3-3) Thursday night, and later threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Perry on a fake field goal, helping his team win, 23-20.

"He might be a kicker but he's a tremendous athlete, we're just fortunate to have him," Glenelg coach Butch Schaffer said.

But while Brister had all the pressure on his shoulders last week as time ticked down, it was the Glenelg defense which had to come through in the clutch this week.

After taking a 23-20 lead on a Nick Crabill 32-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter, the Glenelg defense — ranked fourth in the league coming into the game — had to repel two advances by the vaunted Long Reach offense. The Lightning had scored 180 points coming into the game, 20 points more than any team in the league.

"They're a very tough team. Their record does not really show what they're capable of, that's a tremendous team," said Crabill, who rushed for 123 yards in the game. "We played very hard. In the first half they were just getting outside of us ... we had some breakdowns, we had a lot of missed tackles ... once we shaped up and got our tackles we were fine."

Long Reach's first possession of the fourth quarter netted -17 yards after a penalty, a pair of sacks and a fumble (recovered by Long Reach).

After a Long Reach punt, Glenelg got the ball back on the Lightning 30 with 7:36 left and a chance to put the game away. But that's when the Long Reach defense — which had been allowing 25.6 points per game — came through with an inspired performance.

After a pair of gashing runs by Crabill and a Long Reach penalty, Glenelg was threatening to score at first-and-five from the Long Reach 14-yard line. But then the Lightning defense turned away three Glenelg pass attempts to get the ball back on their own 18-yard line with five minutes remaining.

"Long Reach is an excellent team, we have battles with them each and every year. They always come to play and they're extremely well coached," said Schaffer, who was named the Baltimore Ravens High School Coach of the Week earlier on Thursday. "Their kids played hard as heck."

Leading rusher Allen Cross got the Lightning out to the 36-yard line on three straight runs, then caught an 8-yard third down pass from Elijah Harris to get his team close to midfield. Facing second-and-20 after a sack by John Warfield, Harris connected with Donovan Foster up the middle to get across the 50. Cross then gave the Lightning a first down and caught a pair of passes from Harris to get inside the Glenelg 30 with 60 seconds left.

But that was as close as they would get. With 45 seconds left and Long Reach facing fourth-and-11, J.T. Komsa and Glenn Lucas sacked Harris to clinch the win.

Harris completed only two passes for 15 yards in the first half, but was 5-for-7 for 55 yards in the second half, including four completions for 41 yards on the final drive.

In the second half, Cross put the Lightning on his shoulders, rushing for 67 yards and catching three passes for 24 more yards. Cross rushed for 136 yards on 16 carries in the game. In the first half, Daquan Dixon rushed for 33 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

"It came down to the last drive ... I'm proud of the kids, they never stopped fighting," Long Reach coach Pete Hughes said. "I've never been disappointed in our effort, they played hard."

Both teams are battling for a 2A South playoff berth, with Glenelg leading the region coming into the week, and Long Reach in the sixth spot.

With the win, Glenelg improved to 6-0. The Gladiators won only five games all of last season.

For being named the Baltimore Ravens High School Coach of the Week, Schaffer and the Gladiators receive a $2,000 donation to the school's football program, an award certificate signed by Ravens head coach John Harbaugh and a Coach of the Week hat.

G (6-0) 3 14 0 6 — 23

LR (3-3) 6 7 7 0 — 20

First quarter

LR: Dixon 3 run (kick blocked by Lucas), 5:05.

G: Brister 27 field goal, 1:33.

Second quarter

G: Carta 11 pass from Darden (Brister kick), 10:57.

G: Perry 11 pass from Brister (Brister kick), 4:49.

LR: Dixon 16 run (Evans kick), :40.

Third quarter

LR: Cross 1 run (Evans kick), 2:16.

Fourth quarter

G: Crabill 32 run (EP failed, missed snap), 10:44.

Rushing leaders

G: Crabill, 18 carries-123 yards, TD; Brookhart, 3-11.

LR: Cross, 16-136, TD; Dixon, 7-32, 2 TDs; Pierre, 4-20; Swen, 5-14.

Passing

G: Darden, 5/7, 22 yards, TD; Brister, 1/1, 11, TD.

LR: Harris, 7/16, 70.

Receiving

G: Carta, 2-12, TD; Brookhart, 2-9; Perry, 1-11, TD.

LR: Foster, 2-31; Cross, 3-24; Sokoya, 1-14.

Sluggish Reservoir wakes up in second half to beat Centennial, 34-0

In a rare Thursday matinee, Reservoir (3-3) seemed like it was still wiping the sleep from its eyes for the first 20 minutes of its game against visiting Centennial (0-6) Oct. 6.

With 90 seconds left in the first half though, E.J. Montgomery tossed a pass to Kenny Frazier, who sprinted 49 yards for a touchdown, and the Gators had awakened from their slumber, eventually winning, 34-0.

"We overlooked a team a little bit which we shouldn't have. We came out flat but our coaches told us that we had it in us and we picked it up for the second half," said Montgomery, who finished with 8-completions (on 14 attempts) for 224 yards and four touchdowns."It was a little bit chaotic playing at 3:30 and people were trying to get in and out but there's no excuse for it."

After recovering an onside kick, Reservoir increased its lead to 14-0 on a 6-yard pass from Montgomery to Robert Armstrong with only 26 seconds left in the half and came out for the third quarter as a different team.

"We reminded them how they usually play and how they had played," Gators coach Bryan Cole said.

In the first quarter, Reservoir ran only six plays — to Centennial's 18 — and turned the ball over three times, on two fumbles and an interception made by Alex Eason.

"Just silly mistakes, turnovers, dropped passes, we weren't playing our football," said Montgomery, who also rushed for a team-high 48 yards.

Kenny Frazier had three catches for 70 yards, including two touchdowns, and also rushed for 30 yards. Joey Usher had three catches for 122 yards, including a 67-yard touchdown, and Robert Armstrong had two catches for 37 yards and a score.

"I love these guys, and my line was giving me great time today. When we get time and everyone is executing perfectly, I don't think anyone can stop us," Montgomery said.

Centennial was led offensively by Walter Fletcher (50 rushing yards), Karon Hickman (20 yards) and quarterback Tyler Morris, who completed four passes for 50 yards. The Eagles biggest play of the game was a 30-yard pass from Morris to Pat Zarek, who also made a first quarter sack for an 8-yard Reservoir loss.

C (0-6) 0 0 0 0 — 0

Re (3-3) 0 14 20 0 — 34

Second quarter

Re: Frazier 49 pass from Montgomery (Marsh kick), 1:30.

Re: Armstrong 6 pass from Montgomery (Marsh kick), :26.

Third quarter

Re: Frazier 15 pass from Montgomery (Marsh kick), 7:40.

Re: Usher 67 pass from Montgomery (kick failed), 2:41.

Re: Alli 10 blocked punt return (Marsh kick), 1:13.

Around the league

Atholton improved to 5-1 and scored a season-high 56 points in a 56-7 win over Oakland Mills (1-5) on Thursday. The Raiders scored six touchdowns in the first quarter alone. As a team, Atholton rushed for 349 yards on 34 carries.

OM (1-5) 0 0 7 0 — 7

A (5-1)  42 7 0 7 — 56

First quarter

A: McMahon 57 run (Haas kick), 11:25.
A: Whiting 38 fumble recovery (Haas kick), 9:36.
A: Thomas 29 run (Haas kick), 7:48.
A: Ellison 42 pass from McMahon (Haas kick), 3:39.
A: Thomas 60 run (Haas kick), :50.
A: Haas 27 interception return (Haas kick), :01.

Second quarter

A: Mullens 5 run (Haas kick), 4:55.

Third quarter

OM: Ten. Childs 14 run (Andrews kick), 4:09.

Fourth quarter

A: Newsome 5 run (Haas kick), 7:12.

River Hill (4-2) continued its turnaround after losing consecutive games in September, dominating Howard (4-2), 42-7.

The Hawks scored a season-high 42 points and ended a three-game winning streak for the Lions.

Hammond (5-1) bounced back from its first loss of the season by shutting out Marriotts Ridge (0-6), 35-0.

Devon Paye gained 132 yards on seven carries, finding the end zone three times in the first half, including runs of 70 and 40 yards. Tyler Martin completed six of his nine pass attempts for 70 yards, including a pair of touchdown passes (50 yards and 6 yards) to Akili Moore.

Ha (5-1) 15 13 7 0 - 35

MR (0-6)  0  0  0 0 - 0

First quarter

Ha: Safety (Anuh blocked punt out of end zone).

Ha: Paye 2 run (Whittaker kick).

Ha: Paye 40 run (kick failed).

Second quarter

Ha: Paye 70 run (kick failed).

Ha: Moore 6 pass from Martin (Whittaker kick).

Third quarter

Ha: Moore 50 pass from Martin (Whittaker kick).

Wilde Lake (3-3) posted its biggest scoring output of the season and evened its record with a 42-0 shut out of Mt. Hebron (2-4).

WL (3-3) 8 20 8 6 - 42
MH (2-4) 0  0  0 0 -  0

First quarter

WL: Miller 2 run (Klotz pass from Ampofo).

Second quarter

WL: Waters 15 run (run failed).
WL: Waters 52 run (Barnes run).
WL: Mynatt 44 pass from Ampofo (pas failed).

Third quarter

WL: Hutcherson 5 run (Long run).

Fourth quarter

WL: Long 46 run (kick blocked).