Nightmare On Del Laws
Turnovers Fuel 40 - 7 Loss To Caravel
Nearly twelve minutes into the game against Caravel Academy Friday night, with the teams in a scoreless deadlock, things started to unravel for St. Mark's. Five turnovers over the course of the Spartans next eight possessions turned Bob Peoples Stadium into a house of horrors for the visitors. All five of the miscues (2 fumbles, 2 interceptions, and a high snap on a punt) were committed deep in St. Mark's territory, with four resulting in Buccaneer scores. The first, an errant pitch on St. Mark's 38 yard line, was nullified a few plays later when Caravel fumbled it back to the Spartans. St. Mark's good fortune ended there, as the Buccaneers turned the other Spartan errors into 26 points, forging a 34 - 0 lead. Without the turnovers it would have been a difficult challenge for St. Mark's. Caravel is a good team and was giving the Spartans all they could handle before things went south. With the field position the Bucaneer's gained from those errors (2, 3, 20, an 19 yard line's) St. Mark's didn't stand a chance.
Both teams added late scores when the game was all but over, but it did give St. Mark's a parting highlight when A.J. Poppiti connected with Blaec Sanders for a 35 yard touchdown. It was one of a few bright moments for the offense who were held to 166 total yards by an aggressive Buccaneer defense. Zion Glover led all rushers with 31 yards while Blaec Sanders led the receivers with 2 receptions for 42 yards. Jelani Bryant was 8 of 17 for 70 yards. Though it was in mop up duty, A.J. Poppiti looked sharp going 4 of 4 (60 yards) on the Spartans lone scoring drive. The defense played well early on but but were put in difficult field position with the turnovers, which led to points, though not as much yards given up (266) as one might expect, given the score. Matthew Tynes led the unit with 15 tackles, Brandon Holmburg recorded a sack, and Victor Marcelo recovered a fumble.
Scoring Summary:
C - Larkins 2 yard run (kick failed)
C - Laznik 1 yard run (DeRegis run)
C - Hoffman 3 yard run (pass failed)
C - Laznik 2 yard run (Sengphachanh kick)
C - Montgomery 8 yard pass from Hoffman (Sengphachanh kick)
C - Veney 47 yard run (kick failed)
SM - Sanders 35 yard pass from Poppiti (Ludman kick)
C - Larkins 2 yard run (kick failed)
C - Laznik 1 yard run (DeRegis run)
C - Hoffman 3 yard run (pass failed)
C - Laznik 2 yard run (Sengphachanh kick)
C - Montgomery 8 yard pass from Hoffman (Sengphachanh kick)
C - Veney 47 yard run (kick failed)
SM - Sanders 35 yard pass from Poppiti (Ludman kick)
Box Score:
Team |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
Final |
St. Mark's |
000 |
000 |
000 |
7 |
7 |
Caravel |
000 |
20 |
14 |
6 |
40 |