"BC OUTFIGHTS LAGRANGE"
BC outfights LaGrange
By John Clayton
Savannah Morning News
November 30, 1996
LAGRANGE - For the second half of Benedictine's 23-17 playoff victory over previously unbeaten LaGrange Friday night, the Cadets looked like schoolyard bullies who had picked a fight against a smaller foe.
Try as the smaller but quicker Grangers might to slip away, they somehow always stayed within arms' reach and were forced to take another blow.
And that was just the way BC coach Tommy Brackett had planned it.
"You could say that we wanted to take advantage of our size up front," Brackett said. "We told our guys this week that this was going to be a good old backyard, draw a line in the dirt fight and that it was going to be physical."
The Cadets (11-1) took advantage of three second-half miscues by the second-ranked Grangers (11-1) to hold onto the ball for more than 18 minutes in the second half.
Defensively, BC limited LaGrange to minus-18 yards rushing in the second half and 41 yards for the game.
Seventh-ranked BC returned to its wishbone roots for most of the game, putting together a 13-play, 75-yard scoring drive to start the third quarter.
Walter Simmons scored on a 1-yard plunge with 5:34 left in the third quarter to put BC ahead for good, 17-14.
LaGrange standout receiver Carlo Heard fumbled the ensuing kick and Chris Mercer recovered at the LaGrange 29 to set up another short scoring drive.
Eight plays later, BC quarterback Tommy McNamara sneaked over from the 1 to put the Cadets ahead 23-14 after Scott Shelton's extra-point attempt fle wide left with 1:45 left in the third quarter.
That miss was the only glitch in BC's second-half performance.
"I think it's a tribute to our guys that we can come out and throw the ball 21 times and win and then come out here and throw it three or four times and win," Brackett said.
Bo Parsons cut into BC's lead with a 44-yard field goal, LaGrange's longest of the season with 1:53 left in the game.
The Grangers got the ball back at their own 44 with 19 seconds to play, but could not find a miracle in the Hail Mary pass as time expired.
BC ran up 241 yards on the ground behind an unbalanced offensive line for most of the game.
Brackett gave credit to the man he replaced, Jim Walsh, Sr., for coming up with the idea to run behind an unbalanced line for part of the game.
Walsh was coaching BC the last time the Cadets made the state quarterfinals in 1979.
The Cadets appeared in control in the first half, taking a 3-0 lead on Shelton's 20-yard field goal with 4:41 left in the opening quarter.
Shelton's score was set up by the 58-yard run of Stephen Sauers on BC's second play from scrimmage. Sauers found himself as the odd-man out of the backfield when BC neglected the wishbone for much of the season, but was happy to get the ball Friday night.
"It felt good," Sauers said. "We all played well and played well as a team and that's what you have to do to win state."
LaGrange's J.R. Revere answered by driving the Grangers 71 yards and setting a new school record for touchdowns by a quarterback with a 1-yard run on fourth down.
The Grangers made good on 3 of 4 third-down conversion attempts on that drive.
But the Cadet's bounced back immediately with a five minute, 65-yard drive that ended with McNamara's 33-yard sprint on an option around right end to put BC ahead 10-7.
The cadets only lapse in the first half cost them the halftime lead.
LaGrange's Ashante Woodyard came untouched from left end to block a Gene Dotson punt and run it in five yards for the score to put the Grangers up 14-10 at the half.
But that play did not spoil the fun for the Cadets, who will face Lowndes County next Friday.
"I really enjoyed myself," said 340-pound BC lineman Donald Joyce. "We knew it would be physical. We went out and lined up and the best team won."
1 comment:
I knew something good might happen when I realized that our hotel room was right next to Mallard's parents room. The greatest night in BC history.
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