Friendship Collegiate Academy (Washington, D.C.) 18, Mount St. Joseph (Baltimore) 13A torrid fourth-quarter rally by Mount St. Joseph came up just short when Friendship Collegiate stopped the Gaels 4 yards shy of the end zone with five seconds remaining for an 18-13 victory Thursday night in the opening contest of the second annual I-95 Kick Off Classic at Bowie State University.
Trailing 18-0 after three quarters, Mount St. Joseph junior quarterback Luke Casey engineered two fourth-quarter scoring drives, capped by touchdown runs of 4 and 3 yards by junior running back Drexel Mosby (19 carries for 65 yards), to pull the Gaels to within five.
West Virginia commit Albert Reid scored two touchdowns as Friendship improved to 2-0.
Photo by Jim Stout
And then, following a turnover by the Knights, Casey drove his team back down into the red zone. But on fourth-and-goal with 10 seconds to play, Casey's pass to senior
Samuel Benjamin was knocked away by defensive back Reginal Wyatt to preserve the Knights' win.
"I originally considered calling a draw, but wanted to give us some options," St. Joseph coach Blake Henry said. "Looking back on it now, a draw might have caught them off guard. The play that was called was a roll out to the left with a high low combination on the corner back. Friendship had it well defended."
Friendship Collegiate (2-0) built its lead behind touchdown runs of 2 and 20 yards by West Virginia-commit
Albert Reid.
Despite the loss, Henry praised his team for its comeback effort: "I told my players on the bus that I'm always proud to be their coach, but I have never been prouder. They could have folded at halftime, and most teams would have folded. They played like men tonight and that's all I can ask of them."
Jon Buzby is a sports columnist for the Newark (Del.) Post, a freelance writer, and on the broadcast team for the 1290AM The Ticket High School Football and Basketball Games of the Week. You can reach him at jonbuzby@hotmail.com.
