Quinton Bloch and Omari Lawrence pace Eastern Tech’s 24-8 victory over Dulaney

Wing back Quinton Bloch and fullback Omari Lawrence were in the driver’s seat of Eastern Tech’s offense as the Mavericks defeated Dulaney, 24-8, in football on Saturday.

Bloch and Lawrence both scored a pair of touchdowns. The Mavericks offense runs the flexbone formation with cut blocks and motion. With the establishment of the run, it opens the pass.

In the majority of practices, Eastern Tech coach Bill Brinegar has his team run a lot to stay disciplined. Bloch scored a 55-yard rushing touchdown in the first quarter and an 11-yard receiving touchdown in the fourth quarter, displaying the fruits of his team’s labor.

“For me [the game plan] was to work my tail off and every time they call my number, I just have to go as far as I can possibly go,” Bloch said. “I think it kept us very disciplined. We all hate the running during the practice, but when we get down during the third and fourth quarter, we’re all gassed and we’ve got to keep going. I think the running was very helpful for us.”

Brinegar’s team ran the “veer” in the past. The offense uses a litany of misdirections, speed options, toss plays, dives, triple options, quarterback keepers and sprint-out passes. This spring has been the first time that the team has used the flexbone as their base offense. While it has seen mixed results with their 2-2 record, Brinegar thinks establishing his team’s playing style is essential to their success.

“You can’t be right as an [opposing] defense,” Brinegar said. “We’re leaving guys unblocked and we get to put extra hats on other guys — you leave guys unblocked and try to let them roam. You can see it over, and over and over again and it’s very tough for guys to be disciplined on defense to continue to play their assignments. When we do it right, we might get 3, 4, 5 [yards] and then we’re going to break one.

“My fullbacks — I’ve got three of them that can run well and run hard. They give us a lot of looks. They give us the opportunity to get it to the outside to one of our other guys when it’s there.”

The Mavericks scored their first touchdown on Bloch’s 55-yard run, giving them a 6-0 lead with 6:16 left in the first quarter. The teams began to trade possessions with Dulaney turning it over on downs and subsequently coming up with a recovery by Isaiah McCamie.

Eastern Tech got the ball back and punched it into the end zone with a 4-yard rush by Lawrence to give them a 12-0 lead with 7:05 remaining. Lawrence picked up his second touchdown on a punishing 32-yard rush up the middle to give his team an 18-0 lead at the half.

Dulaney quarterback Kyree Fox tossed a 30-yard pass to Ben Ellis for a touchdown to cut Eastern Tech’s lead to 18-8 after the two-point conversion with 4:10 left in the third quarter. Bloch caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jerryn Preisinger to give Eastern Tech a 24-8 lead with 10:42 left.

Lions coach Daron Reid saw his team attempt to claw back in the second half with Fox’s pass. While he stuck with the same game plan, his team’s execution was better. Reid’s team understood that Eastern Tech, hanging a three-touchdown lead at the half on Dulaney, was a formidable foe.

“I think they probably realized that they [Eastern Tech] can play,” Reid said. “They can’t take everything for granted and they have to make their plays and execute. I think that was really it. It was the same stuff that was called, we really didn’t make any adjustments. They just executed better to a degree.”