M A
7 7
0
0
14
STJ
7
0 8
0
15
SCORING SUMMARY:
STJ
(1) 11:12 Murphy 1 run
(Sutter kick) 7
- 0
M A (1) 1:33 Brown 6 pass from
Swann
(Brown
kick) 7 - 7
M A (2) 10:07 S. Hunter 19
run
(Brown kick) 7 - 14
STJ (3) 2:10 Crider 6
run
(Ward run) 15 -
14
September 24, 2004.
Carlisle Field. 7 PM Clear, slightly
breezy Game Temperature: 78 Wind ENE 8
St. James scored on
their initial possessions of each half, and overcame injuries both from
days before and during the game, as football action returned after its
one week Hurricane Ivan hiatus. The press box, thanks to said
hurricane, was minus a roof as well. The missing roof, and a
patched hole in the locker room behind the press box were the only
hurricane-related obstacles as a Matt Ward two point conversion proved
to be the difference as the Trojans came from behind in a 15-14 Capital
City Conference victory over the visiting Montgomery Academy Eagles.
The Trojans took the ball on the first drive and traversed the distance
almost at ease. A 33 yard kickoff return by Taylor Thompson set
the ball up at the Trojan 43. From there, a 24 yard pass from
Tyler Murphy to Bruce Alter, a 12 yard run by Ward, and a 20 yard pass
from Murphy to Thompson had the Trojans on the Eagle 1 yard line.
On first down, Murphy snuck in and with less than a minute gone in the
game, Graham Sutter's extra point gave the Trojans a very quick 7-0
lead.
The momentum carried over to the defense, as three offensive Eagle
plays lost a total of 14 yards. After a punt, a pass completion
to Peter Krothapalli and a 19 yard jaunt by Murphy had the offense
moving again. However, a costly intentional grounding penalty
gave up 20 yards of field position, and the Trojans had to punt for the
first time. The Eagles promptly marched 75 yards on 13
plays. Trey Holtsford had a key 14 yard run, and Anthony McCall
caught a 31 yard pass from Tripp Swann to advance the ball to the
Trojan 5. Despite a penalty, two plays later Swann dropped back
and waited until the last moment to find Harris Brown in the back
corner of the endzone for a 6 yard touchdown. Brown completed his
score with his own conversion, and the game was tied at 7 late in the
first quarter.
Tyler Murphy was injured on the next drive, and the Trojans failed to
gain a first down. McCall's punt return of 22 yards gave the
Eagles possession at the Trojan 47. Alan Bishop caught a third
down pass for 16 yards, and Sam Hunter ran for 6 and 19 yards on the
next two plays, the second one just into the endzone. Brown's
kick was deflected, but still went through the uprights, and MA had
soundly erased the St. James momentum to take their own 7 point lead
early in the second quarter.
Murphy tried to run the offense one more series, but left the game not
to return. Both defenses were staunch for the remainder of the
quarter, as each team could only manage one more first down in the
first half. The Eagles intercepted a desperation St. James fourth
down pass at the 9 yard line and ran out the first half clock.
The Eagles were driving on the first possession of the second half, but
had to use a timeout early in the drive which proved costly
later. After the timeout, however, a third down and ten was
converted with Walter Parker picking up 29 yards on a catch and
run. Several plays later, Swann's 6 yard run on third down gave
MA a first down at the Trojan 14. On the next play, however, the
ball came loose and was pounced on by Matt Ward at the St. James
12. Backup quarterback John Enslen, seeing his first action since
being hurt on the first play of the junior varsity matchup several
weeks prior against Alabama Christian, led the Trojans on an impressive
88 yard touchdown drive. On third and ten, Enslen's pass was
hauled in with one hand by Taylor Thompson, the catch and perhaps the
play of the game, and his 28 yard pick up moved the ball to the 40 yard
line. Then Jeremy Crider, who had rushed only twice for 10 yards
in the first half caught fire. He picked up three first downs on
the drive with runs of 26, 10, and 12. His 12 yard run moved the
ball down to the 6, and on the next play he took the handoff up the
middle and was tackled with the ball landing on the goal line for a
touchdown. With Murphy injured, there was no holder to attempt a
tying extra point, so St. James kept out its normal offense and snapped
quickly. Enslen handed off to Ward, who had set up the drive with
his fumble recovery. He wriggled through traffic over the goal
line for a two point conversion, the first attempted by St. James this
season, giving the Trojans a 15-14 lead late in the third quarter.
After an Eagle punt, the Trojans were driving again. A huge 34
yard quarterback sprint by Enslen, who made a cut away from the
sidelines to pick up an extra 20 yards, took the ball down to the
4. However, the Eagle defense stiffened and the Trojans were
stopped at the 1 on fourth down. After a short punt, St. James
had excellent field position again at the Eagle 22, but could manage no
more than 2 yards. The Eagles then went 3 and out for the third
consecutive drive, and St. James got the ball back at their own 36 with
5:15 remaining in the game intent on running out the clock. After
first down runs of 7 by Enslen, 9 by Crider, and 7 by Crider, it
appeared they would. MA had to use their last two timeouts during
the deliberate drive. However, in the last minute of play, Crider
broke through the line and appeared to be heading for the endzone when
the ball was stripped and the Eagles recovered at their own 5 yard line
with 29.8 remaining. With no time outs, M A had to travel nearly
the entire field to even get in position for a potential winning field
goal. Two short out of bounds completions to McCall, and a
foolish hit out of bounds penalty stopped the clock and moved the ball
to the Eagle 40 with 13.2 seconds remaining. After an incomplete
pass, McCall caught a pass over the middle and was downed at the Trojan
35 with 1.4 seconds left. The clock stopped because of the
converted first down, and a quick spike with half a second remaining
gave the Eagles one desperation chance for a 35 yard touchdown pass, as
they were still out of field goal range. Swann rared back and got
the ball within reach of the endzone, but Taylor Thompson safely
knocked the ball down, harmlessly incomplete, and preserved a third
consecutive Trojan victory in an exciting, nerve-racking game between
these long time city rivals.
GAME FOUR SIDELINE STATISTICS:
ST.
JAMES
RUSHING 43
attempts 232 yards 2 TDs (5.28
yards per carry)
10
Crider 18 / 98 1 TD
14
Enslen 14 /
84 30
Ward 3 / 20
9 Murphy 3 / 20
1 TD
44 Krothapalli 4 /
9
2 Thompson 1 / 1
PASSING 5 completions 19
attempts 1
INT 84 yards 0 TDs (1 sack of, 5 yards)
9
Murphy 3 - 8 -
0 57 yards
14 Enslen 2
- 10 - 0 27 yards (1 sack, - 5 yards)
30
Ward 0
- 1 - 1
RECEIVING
2 Thompson 3 /
47
22
Alter
1 / 24 44
Krothapalli 1 / 13
TOTAL YARDS: 316
KICKS: XP 1 /
1
FG 0 / 0
2 POINT CONVERSIONS: 1 / 1
KICKOFFS: 3 (54,51,46)
PUNTS: 3 (44,41,27)
KO RETURNS: 3 (33,13,65)
PUNT RETURNS: 3 (14,1,29)
FIRST DOWNS: 19 (13 rushing, 6 passing)
FUMBLES: 1, lost 1
TURNOVER MARGIN: - 1
PENALTIES: 5 / 56 yards
TIME OF POSSESSION: 23:21
MONT
ACAD RUSHING 38 attempts 101 yards
1 TD
PASSING 7 completions 19 attempts
0
INTs 127 yards 1 TD (1 sack of, 6 yards)
TOTAL YARDS: 228
KICKS: XP 2 /
2
FG 0 / 0
2 POINT CONVERSIONS: 0 / 0
KICKOFFS: 3 (50,51,50)
PUNTS: 6 (37,23,39,33,17,41)
KO RETURNS: 3
(54,20,34)
PUNT RETURNS: 2 (22,0)
FIRST DOWNS: 12 (7 rushing, 5 passing)
FUMBLES: 1, lost 1
PENALTIES: 2 / 10 yards
TIME OF POSSESSION: 24:39