Laurel knocks off New Brighton
Laurel (34) vs. New Brighton (28)
Written: Oct 08, 2011
  By Dan Irwin
New Castle News
For three quarters, brute ball control battled precision surgical strikes to a dead heat.
And then, the scalpel slipped.
A botched shotgun snap in New Brighton’s wildcat offense sailed over the head of quarterback Michael Nevill early in the fourth quarter. The Spartans recovered the ball, put together back-to-back scoring drives then ran out the clock after one last Lions touchdown to secure a 34-28 Midwestern Athletic Conference win.
Laurel (3-2 conference, 3-3 overall) rolled up a 395-95 advantage in rushing yards, a 26-11 edge in first downs and ran 68 offensive plays to New Brighton’s 36. But Nevill — who rushed for 89 yards and three touchdowns while completing 9 of 16 passes for 153 yards and a TD — kept the Lions (1-4, 2-4) in the game.
Nevill’s 65-yard scoring romp tied the game at 7-7 in the first quarter. He needed just 91 seconds to convert an interception into a game-tying touchdown pass just before the half. His 51-yard, third-quarter pass to Kyle Fabyanic set up his own 15-yard TD run that gave the Lions a 21-14 lead. And his 56-yard strike to Tony Tomasi prefaced a 5-yard Nevill run to paydirt that pulled New Brighton to within six points after Laurel had gone up by 13 with 2:49 left in the game.
“They execute that offense extremely well,” Laurel head coach Jerry Holzhauser said, “and that quarterback is one heck of a football player. Defending them is not an easy task with that kind of an athlete there.
“Never in the game did I think we weren’t going to score, but they broke some big plays and we knew they could score at anytime. It came down to we had to control the football, and I think we did at the end.”
Actually, the Spartans did a fine job of that all night. Quarterback Brandon Ritchie rushed for 209 yards and 2 TDs on 24 carries, while running back Dylan Jones accumulated 162 yards and 3 TDs on 30 carries.
Jones’ numbers gave him the school’s career scoring (236 points), touchdowns (39) and rushing (3,311 yards) records.
What Laurel needed, then, was a huge defensive stop, and they got it on the errant New Brighton snap with the Lions’ threatening on fourth-and-eight at the Spartans’ 20. Laurel’s Cody Clem recovered, and Ritchie’s 50-yard sprint on first down set up Jones’ 3-yard TD run two plays later, snapping a 21-all tie.
The Spartans forced a Lions punt, then increased their lead to 34-21 with a seven-play, 76-yard drive capped by Jones’ 23-yard run.
Nevill’s pass to Tomasi and subsequent score helped keep the game in the hat a while longer, but after Ryan Hites recovered the onside kick, the Spartans ran out the final 2:24 seconds on the clock.
“That was definitely a turning point in the game for us, we were just glad we could march down and score,” Ritchie said of the Lions’ fumble.
“We were fired up. We knew we had to score and control the clock, and that’s what we did.”
Ritchie and Jones both credited their offensive line with that accomplishment.
“It’s all them,” Jones said. “Everything starts up front and they do a great job every week.”
Holzhauser, though, had some praise for his skill players as well.
“Dylan is a heck of a running back but what Brandon does out on the field is really impressive to me as a coach as well,” he said. “He read the defenses and picked the right plays to run, based on the defensive look he was getting.
“And he made some real big plays.”
(Email: d_irwin@ncnewsonline.com)
NEW BRIGHTON LAUREL
11 First downs 26
126Yards Rushing 397
31 Yards Lost 2
95 Net Rushing 395
16 Passes Attempted 8
9 Passes Completed 1
0 Passes Intercepted 1
153 Yards Passing 12
248 Total Yards 407
1-1 Fumbles-Lost 3-0
4-30.5 Punts-Average 2-33
5-40Penalties-Yards 7-76
NEW BRIGHTON 7 7 7 7 — 28
LAUREL 7 7 7 13 — 34
Scoring plays
LAUREL — Dylan Jones, 5-yard run (Joseph Johnson kick).
NEW BRIGHTON — Michael Nevill, 65-yard run (Nick Perretta kick).
LAUREL — Brandon Ritchie, 15-yard run (Johnson kick).
NEW BRIGHTON — Drew Devinney, 5-yard pass from Nevill (Perretta kick).
NEW BRIGHTON — Nevill, 15-yard run (Perretta kick).
LAUREL — Ritchie, 32-yard run (Johnson kick).
LAUREL — Jones, 3-yard run (Johnson kick).
LAUREL — Jones, 23-yard run (Kick failed).
NEW BRIGHTON — Nevill, 5-yard run (Perretta kick).
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