BL closes out Curley with a 99-yard fourth quarter drive

It was one of those gut check moments which seems to occur in almost every big football game.

Despite out-muscling visiting Archbishop Curley for much of the first three-and-a-half quarters, No. 19 Boys’ Latin found itself backed up on its one yard line nursing a precarious 14-7 lead in the fourth quarter of a critical early season MIAA B Conference showdown, Friday at BL.

A turnover could have led to a tie game and a failure to move the ball would have presented the Friars with outstanding field position.  Instead, the Lakers responded with a 99-yard touchdown drive that secured a 21-7 victory, the 12th consecutive regular season win for BL.

Senior running back Jeff Chase fueled the march with two long runs and quarterback Brett Radcliffe capped it with a 43 yard touchdown pass to senior wideout Alec Whitman.

Chase ran around left end for 15 yards to move Boys’ Latin out from the shadow of its own goal post and, a few plays later, he squirted free down the right side for 24 yards to move the ball into Curley territory.  Two plays later, Radcliffe rolled right and flipped the ball to a wide open Whitman, who collected it around the 18 before simply spinning and strolling into the end zone untouched.

Boys’ Latin scored its other two touchdowns in the opening quarter.  After the two teams exchanged punts to open the game, BL drove 65 yards, scoring on a 20 yard pass from Radcliffe to Dequan Siggers.  One minute later, Curley gift wrapped the Lakers’ second score.

Deep in his own territory, Curley quarterback Luke Stidham rolled to his right and appeared as if he wanted to option pitch the football, but with his pitch lane blocked, he dumped a backwards pass over the defender which did not reach his back.  Joey Weidner, however, alertly grabbed the ball on one bounce and ushered it into the end zone for an eight yard touchdown return.

In the second quarter, Curley battled back into the contest.

The Friars tossed the ball to Kenny Thomas, on a second and five, and the speedy sophomore bolted through a  gaping hole on the left side of the line and raced 74 yards to pay dirt to cut the Lakers lead to 14-7.  Curley was moving towards a potential tying score later in the period, but Taylor Stothoff made a key interception to thwart the march at the Laker 28 yard, as the first half wound down.

Neither team scored in the third quarter, but Curley was slowly beginning to win the battle for field position.  That was until the Lakers game clinching drive sealed the victory.

Boys’ Latin 21, Archbishop Curley 7

1st Q
BL-Dequan 20 pass from Radcliffe (Stothoff kick)
BL-Weidner 8 fumble return (Stothoff kick)
2nd Q
AC-Thomas 74 yard run (Budnichuk kick)
4th !
BL-Whitman 43 yard pass from Radcliffe (Stothoff kick)