Bears 24 Crusaders 0

Saint Paul arrived at a hot and humid Triplett Field at Bordley Stadium. League rules om temperature permitted the visitor not to don their normal tabards, cloaks, helm, shield and armor, although they were festooned in Under Armor® gear. The white clad visitors’ record was hot with 55-0 win over “MIAA B” league Annapolis Area Christian and an away victory over our IAC rivals, StA, 31-14.  

With black clouds looming to the West, the Bears’ D was a STORM.  LANDON registered its 96th consecutive minute without relinquishing a score.  Seven 3-and-out’s, 2 TFLs, 2 Sacks and 8 passes defended (there may have been one SPS pass completed in front of Bears #1, 1st of season). More than DEFENSE, this crew (~20 players earned PT) was also OFFENSIVE with Troy Ulisney getting a PICK 6 (~75 yards) @ 1:03 before halftime.

Game summary–

• Bears receive kick move ball 48 yards 9 plays—highlight 15-yard run by Nathan Furgeson, 13 yard run by DP Pope; stopped by fumble

• Crusaders possess ball 13 plays, 55 yards; punt 

• Home team start at –35; 6 first downs, 65 yards passes and runs; @ 0:25 14 yard TD run by Ubi Zaid; PAT good- Tiller Smith snap, Sean Murray hold and Chase Robertson kick 7-0

• Q1 over 

• SPS takes K/O and moves the 44 yards, but drive is stall by Quinn Macintyre’s sack

• Landon shows sustained drive with Dylan Aryavand as QB; Sean/DP/Dylanruns, and 3 passes Ubi and brother Ahmed catches, plus an SPS penalty moved the chains [six 1st downs and 48 yards], the PAT lined up for a 32 yard FG GOOD @ 1:49.

• Q1–> Q2 as the visitors started from their own 35, pass/incomplete/pass/BUT THEN OOOPS ~75 yard pick six by Troy Uliseny, PAT good 17-0 Bears

• Home D stopped the Crusaders forcing a turnover on 4th down 

• Landon snapped the ball 3 times in 0:07, but to no avail 

• HALFTIME 17-0 

• Minutes 24:01-36:00 were dominated by the Landon defense, forcing three 3-and-outs and a fumble. 

• The Bears executed a 7 play almost flawless drive– with 5 runs and the last 7 yards covered by a Dylan to Sean 8 yard TD pass @ 0:46 remaining in Q3—Smith/Murray/Roberson trio added their 6th point.

• Q4 started off with another SPS fumble, but the home team was unable to capitalize on this “CrusadERROR”. 

• The Landon O unit included a number of untested players who now can claim some PT against a MIAA A division. 

• The ball was returned to SPS, but the Landon DEs, NG, I and O LBs, CBs and Ss did not succumb to the Crusaders’ valiant efforts, 

• QB3 Sherlock Grigsby, a transfer from Deerfield (SSL) successfully ran the O for the remainder of Q4 

FINAL SCORE BEARS 24 CRUSADERS 0

For those of you who value history, although not a believer that past patterns predict the future, this is the 1st time since 2014 that Landon has had back-to-back shutouts. Then it was St. Christophers, Richmond and then Bishop Dennis J. O’Donnell with consecutive ZEROs on the scoreboard. In the intervening years the Bulldogs of DC, residing on a mount of saints, have seen a ZERO on their scoreboards in 2021, 2019 and 2018. 

For those who observe