Saturday, December 2, 2017

Cougars Return To Finals; Bulldogs’ Run Ends At 12-3

               Coming into this game, the Charlotte Catholic Cougars were heavily favored. The Robinson Bulldogs would not lie down however. The Bulldogs received the opening kickoff and drove down the field on their first drive. Quarterback Chase Orrock capped off the opening drive with a five-yard touchdown run. The extra point kick by Luis Escorza was good.

                The Cougars stormed back with a touchdown drive of their own. Christopher Walton capped off the drive with a three-yard quarterback run into the end-zone. The extra point was no good so the Bulldogs retained a one-point lead. However, in the first quarter mistakes killed Robinson. Two turnovers (a fumble and an interception) turn into to two scores for the Cougars. Lamagea McDowell gave them the lead with a one-yard plunge into the end-zone.

                First play in the second quarter, Milan Howard ran it in from 13-yards out. George Griggs made both extra point kicks. Then the scoring went cold from there. While the Bulldogs were hurt with turnovers, the Cougars were hit with penalties. The score would remain 20-7 at half-time.

                On their second drive in the second half, the Cougars were in position to put the game away but a holding penalty backed them up and the field goal attempt by Griggs was missed. The third quarter would remain a stalemate. After being pinned at their own one-yard line early in the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs made another deadly turnover. Chase Foley hit Orrock near the end zone causing a fumble. Ty Foley recovered in the end zone for a Catholic touchdown. The two-point conversion attempt failed however.

                Robinson would not go away however. Down but not out, the Bulldogs cut into Catholic’s lead with a one-yard plunge by Dawson Williams. The two-point conversion pass from Chase Orrock to Bryson Furr cut the lead to 26-15. But the onside kick was unsuccessful and two unsportsmanlike penalties and a five-yard touchdown run by Lamagea McDowell put the nail in the coffin. The Bulldogs tried to score an oh-by-the-way touchdown, but Orrock’s Hail Mary pass was intercepted in the end zone by Brian Jacobs. Jacobs also recovered a fumble earlier in the game. Jacobs, Riley Berger, Adam Robbe, and Billy Brewer all came up with interceptions.

                Milan Howard amassed 124 yards from scrimmage (76 rushing, 48 receiving) and a touchdown. McDowell rushed for 109 yards and two touchdowns.

                “Our team works so hard. It’s a hard fought game. Both teams gave the fans what they came to see.” Said Catholic head coach Mike Brodowicz “We hurt ourselves with penalties. It’s something that we’re going to have to clean up in the state championship game. When you’re 1st-and-20, it’s hard to get in anybody’s offense and Jay M. Robinson did a good job in dropping back in our passing lanes. So they’re giving us 5 or 6 yards a play and we still end up 4th-and-4.”

                “Our defense has been phenomenal all year. We’re basically giving up three points a game from our starting group. We’ve leaned on our defense. It’s been the defense’s time to step up and help out when we were struggling a little bit and finding a rhythm on offense. It’s been like that all year. We have a well-rounded team in all three phases.”

                “We worked on something they haven’t seen which is flex-bone option.” said Robinson head coach Joe Glass “We run down the field and go and they made the adjustment like that and that’s a great coaching job by them. We thought we were going to attack some certain things and they were really good on the perimeter. We just didn’t get the job done tonight.”

                “We had a couple of things that I thought went our way with some turnovers. We didn’t get them. The biggest difference in the game was special teams and turnovers. If we don’t turn the ball over, we’re in the ball game.”

                Charlotte Catholic will play Havelock at Duke University next week. Havelock defeated Western Alamance 41-14.

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