MARION — A coach will bark out loads of orders throughout a sport, however typically he has to take heed to his gamers.
On the ultimate drive of Saturday’s sport with Tabor Academy, Lawrence Academy coach Jason Swepson took the recommendation of his offensive line.
Instead of breaking a late tie with a area objective, the Spartans went for a landing, and acquired it, to earn a 28-21 win between two Independent School League unbeatens.
With the win, Lawrence Academy stays excellent with a 6-0 report, whereas Tabor drops to 5-1. Both are in good place to make a NEPSAC bowl sport.
That remaining drive began on the Lawrence 35-yard line with 3:23 to go. Lawrence had been mounting lengthy drives all sport.
“Perfect amount (of time), because we have a kicker (Rollin Hughes),” Swepson mentioned. “We’ve just got to get in field-goal range. We got into field-goal range, and then the o-line said, ‘We want to score a touchdown.’ I was playing for a field goal. O-line said, ‘Hell no, let’s score a touchdown.’ Credit to them.”
The 10-play drive featured eight runs, capped by a 2-yarder from Jordan Johnson, who completed with 59 yards on 12 carries. Quarterback Michael Landolfi added 67 yards and a landing on 13 carries. He additionally accomplished 16 of twenty-two passes for 159 yards.
“He’s one of the better players I’ve ever been around, and I’ve been around some great ones, with Matt Ryan, Russell Wilson, Hasselbeck,” Swepson mentioned. “You go right down the line, and this kid is with them with composure, leadership skills. Bottom line is he’s a winner. Colleges need to recognize that. He’s a winner.”
“There could have been a minute left, I feel confident in my guys that we can go down there and score,” Landolfi mentioned. “The o-line played really well. This was like a turning point for them. Tabor Academy, that’s a completely different team from last year. Oh, my goodness! They’re really well coached. They’re a really good team. They’ll be good. But, yeah, full confidence in my guys. There could be 30 seconds on the clock, I’ll feel comfortable. The way we can burn the clock, that really helped, too.”
After Johnson’s landing, Tabor solely had 11 seconds to reply, and the Spartans stopped the ultimate drive.
Lawrence opened the sport with a 14-play drive that led to a 32-yard area objective from Hughes.
Tabor answered with the sensational Hugo Djeumeni on a 55-yard landing run. Djeumeni completed with 137 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries.
Landolfi ran in a 4-yarder and a two-point conversion late within the second quarter, however Tabor answered. Quarterback Timothy Bengston scored from a yard out simply earlier than the half after an ideal hook and ladder to receiver Kaiden Drinkwater and Djeumeni netted 39 yards because the Seawolves took a 14-11 lead.
Another Hughes area objective, once more from 32 yards out, tied it up within the third quarter. After the Lawrence protection made a cease, Darnell Cicero-Bronson rumbled for a 22-yard landing over the left finish.
Djeumeni struck once more, this time from 5 yards out with 3:29 left, however that was an excessive amount of time for Lawrence.
Source: www.bostonherald.com