By: David Wells
For a few moments Friday night, it looked like this Father Ryan squad was going to make history.
The Fightin’ Irish, down three with 1:46 left to go, had all the momentum after Andrew Rector blocked Davis Luster’s 30-yard field goal attempt and quarterback Cameron Towns completed crucial passes on 4th-and-10 and 3rd-and-3 during the ensuing drive.
But as close as Father Ryan came to breaking its 19-year losing streak to MBA, both Towns and the Fighting Irish fell short as they fell once again to rival MBA 20-17.
With mere seconds on the clock, Towns took Father Ryan to the MBA 46-yard line in a pass-heavy final series, but he couldn’t complete his final two passes as the Irish turned the ball over on downs.
While many fans who attended the game will think of the final two minutes as a missed opportunity, Father Ryan had plenty of other opportunities early in the game it couldn’t take advantage of.
In the first half, MBA had difficulty holding on to the ball, fumbling three times and losing two. In addition, Joseph Holzmer intercepted a Cole Eueverard pass late in the second quarter.
But the Irish offense only advantage of one of those turnovers. After Nick Gould recovered a fumble on the MBA 37, Towns threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Shoop to put the Irish up 7-0 with 7:07 left in the first quarter.
Later in the half, Cuong Nguyen fumbled immediately after Father Ryan recovered an MBA fumbled punt. Big Red running backs Michael Lacey and Derrick Tusie led the MBA offense down the field 58 yards, culminating in a 7-yard Euverard touchdown pass to T.J. Jefferson to tie the game 7-7.
Neither team turned the ball over in an offense-heavy second half in which the two teams led long, sustained drives.
Father Ryan’s offense struck first with a 33-yard Luke Strebel field goal that put the Irish up 10-7. But MBA retaliated with an 80-yard drive that ended with a Tusie touchdown and MBA’s first lead of the game, 14-10.
Lacey, Tusie and Eueverard combined for 234 yards and two rushing touchdowns, most of which came on run-around plays down the sidelines.
Father Ryan retook the lead with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Towns to receiver Aaron McLeod, but MBA took it back 53 seconds later when Lacey scored a 23-yard touchdown to put MBA up 20-17 with 9:13 left.
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