LANDON 35 COLLEGIATE 26

The scenario seems almost redundant—a bigger team, with a junior QB on recruiting boards “cred”, with big WRs and from a football strong conference. Those factors have faced the Bears in all 4 of its 2012 football campaign. Following the common script of the games past, Landon scored first (in this case, the home team put 21 points on the scoreboard in the 1^st 8 minutes). The fans were starting to wonder whether the Cougars were still “on the bus” or whether the Bears were busting them on the field. Collegiate came back, showed their metal and talent, and were clearly in the hunt (21-19) midway through the 3^rd quarter. The Running Bears (5 backs with at least a 4 yards per rush average with Myles Allen10.2 and Johari Johnson11.7 at the high end of the scale for a total of 401 russhing yards) took control to capture an impressive victory. BEARS 35 COUGARS 26

The home team won the toss of the coin and elected to receive the kickoff. After a short run up the middle by Myles (who thankfully returned off of the injury list) to establish the signature play of the winged T, the next play showed the dynamism of this offense, the Bears QB faked the ball to other backs, but soph Joharireceived the ball, blasted through a whole opened by his line, cleared the secondary and zoomed by the flailing Cougars for a 76 yard TD (the scoreboard clock was not yet operative).

Soph Chris Kirtleysplit the uprights, BEARS 7 COUGARS 0

Chriskicked off and the Cougars’ star 6’6” junior QB, Wilton Speight, showed the strength of his arm by straight line the ball about 30 yards to one of his WRs. Unfortunately one of the Bear DBs hit the visitor receiver with such force that the ball dislodged. Bears recovered 1^st and 10 from the Landon 46. Eight runs (Myles3X, Jamal François2, Philip Pena 2, Johariand Dominique Seagears once each) later the Bears’ soph Jamalscored from 6 yards out. As important as these speedy, tough, deceptive backs are, equally important (particularly because the Landon O line is not huge) is the timing and execution of the TEs, Ts, Gs and C—Austin Petty, Obai Komara, David Spiritos, Will Buckingham, Michael Rallo, William Murty and Jackson Howard. Chris Kirtley successfully converted the PAT. BEARS 14 COUGAR 0

Another kickoff put the ball in the hands of the visitors and their potential was masked by a penalty and two incomplete passes. They had to punt at 5:22 (the clock magically came to life) and the Bears took over at their own 33. QB Philrolled and found TE Austin Pettyfor a 46 yard completion. A Jamal 5 yard run was followed by a Myles18 yard TD run. Chris’s kick made it BEARS 21 COUGARS 0 @ 3:43 of the 1^st period.

Once again with the ball, frustration still overwhelmed the visitors. Andrew Mitchell rotated in as a defensive end and tackled the Cougars’ QB for a loss, followed by excellent defense on another pass play. The Collegiate punt was partially blocked and the Bears took possession for the 4^th time in the 1^st Q.

Mylesexhibited speed, power and deception on a run that measured 33 on the North/South line, but probably totaled 50 yards on a hypothetical pedometer. Five plays later the Bears turned the ball over on downs.

One play exhausted the first period with the Cougars possessing the ball on the Landon 22. The visitors showed their tenacity by sustaining a 14 play drive including 5 incomplete passes, two visitor penalties, one home penalty and two Bear Tackles For Loss by Jack Falk. The  scoring play was a 9 yard pass from Speight to RB Guido Scruggs, who caught the ball though well defended by multiple Landon DBs. COUGARS 7 LANDON 21 @ 6:57

The visitors successfully recovered an onside kick; Cougars 1^st and 10 at their own 40. The Bear D stiffened and stopped the visitors after 5 plays. One play in this visitors’ possession added a new verb to football vocabulary; the Cougars tried a sweep and was met with an arresting tackle by the Bears #5, he FALKED the opponent:

                                                                                                                                                                                JUST BEFORE IMPACT!

Landon D had 4 down line men (Austin Petty, Jules Desroches, PJ Fitzgerald, Will Buckingham, Jackson Howard plus Kolby Williams and Andrew Mitchell), LBs (Taylor Trumbower, Michael Rhoads, Jack Falk, Connor Lynch), added Brandon Johnson as a LB/DB and the usual secondary (Anthony Fullum, Peter Laco,  RobbieDunigan, Jamal François, plus Bernard Akinboyewa, Dominique Seagears). In spite of the size differential, the D lineman caused a number of holding penalties and a few were actually called. The DBs did not allow much separation, which forced the Cougar QB to hold the ball too long.

The Bear O returned to the field and held the ball for eight plays and almost 3 minutes.

The Cougars got the ball 68 yards from a touchdown and with only 2:14 until halftime. Speight’s long passes (15, 53 and 27 yards) moved the ball into the Bears’ end zone. The PAT was blocked COUGARS 13 BEARS 31 @ 0:54.

Four Bear plays consumed the remainder of the 2^nd period.

HALFTIME BEARS 21 COUGARS 13

Returning from halftime with renewed energy, the Cougars went to an all pass offense– 7 passes, 5 complete, 1 penalty = TD a 21 yard toss. They tried a 2 point conversion, but the receiver could not control the ball as he was hit. COUGARS 19 BEARS 21 @ 9:34

The Bears had good field position due to a Cougars’ late hit, but the home O was not in rhythm and punted after 4 plays.

Cougars 1^st and 10 at their own 40. First play from scrimmage resulted in a 15 yard penalty for holding.  A completion was followed by an incompletion caused by a nice play by Dominique Seagearsand then a sack by Mitchelland Desroches. The Cougars punt only moved the ball to the Bear 30 with 6:18 remaining in the 3^rd Q.

This was a critical set of downs for the Bears; their opponents were within 2 points and had showed that their passing attack, even with its hiccups, could score quickly. Landon had a challenge and responded with 5 running plays. The pièce de résistance was a Jamal François24 yard explosion into the end zone. Kirtley successfully converted the PAT @3:57 of the 3^rd Q—BEARS 28 COUGARS 19

The Cougar single dimension offense (their best RB was hurt in the 1^st Q) produced one completion for a 1^st down and then two incompletions. The visitors’ advance was terminated when Messrs. Kolby Williams and Jules Desroches jointly sacked the QB for a big loss:

The Cougars punted and after three plays with the ball, the Bears’ punted back.

Collegiate showed their passing prowess with a ten play possession, which moved the clock into the 4^th Q. Though there were 5 incompletions and one TFL (by Kolby), Speight hit a WR for a TD, PAT good COUGARS26 BEARS 28 @ 10:15 of the 4^th Q

The Bears faced the challenge of a 2 point margin and plenty of time for the visitors to take a lead. They began 76 yards from a score and they used a 9 run/ 1 pass attack to cover that territory. They chipped away (both in terms of blocking technique and chunks of yardage gained) with carries by François and Johnson, 3 each,  Allen(2) andPena(1). Showing the versatility and deceptiveness of the Wing T, the last play was a 12 yard TD pass from Philto Austin Petty, Kirtley PAT good @4:39 of the 4^th Q BEARS 35 COUGARS 26

Chris Kirtley boomed the kick off into the end zone to start the visitors 80 yards from a score. The Bear defense asserted itself with Robby Dunigan knocking down a pass, soph Kolby Williams timing his jump perfectly to knock down the pass of the 6’6” QB from #45’s DE position and finally Michael Rhoadsshedding his blocker to sack the Cougar signal caller. In between those highlight plays were two other incomplete passes due to good Bear DB coverage and equally important two pass receptions which were stopped at the point of completion (no yards after tackle) with Bear DB wrap up’s.

The Cougar punt gave the ball to the Bears at the visitors 41 with 3:27. Three and out returned the ball to the Richmond team. But to add to their degree of difficulty, Landon’s back up punter, Philip Pena, boomed a coffin corner punt to the 9 yard line.

One final test—91 yards and 1:53 to try to narrow the 9 point margin. Two completions and two incompletions were followed by a very athletic interception by Johari Johnsonat 1:07. The Bears took a knee for three successive plays (Cougar Coach Playo is not a disciple of the Greg Schiano school [http://espn.go.com/new-york/nfl/story/_/id/8388392/new-york-giants-tom-coughlin-argues-tampa-bay-buccaneers-greg-schiano-cheap-shot-eli-manning])) consumed the remainder of the clock.

Interesting numbers from the below statistics:

                        Bears total rushing yards        401

                        Speight’s passing 22-47-1 377 4TDs

FINAL SCORE BEARS 35 COUGARS 26

PICTURES COURTESY OF GOLANDON.COM and the below stats are the work product of Mac Jacoby as published by the Washington Post:

Scoring Summary
Quarter	School	Summary
1	Landon	Johnson   76 run (Kirtley   kick)
1	Landon	Francois   6 run (Kirtley   kick)
1	Landon	Allen   18 run (Kirtley   kick)
2	Collegiate	Scruggs 9 pass from   Speight (Keiger kick)
2	Collegiate	Walker 27 pass from   Speight (kick failed)
3	Collegiate	Dziedzic 21 pass   from Speight (pass failed)
3	Landon	Francois   44 run (Kirtley   kick)
4	Collegiate	Sutton 3 pass from   Speight (Keiger kick)
4	Landon	Petty   12 pass from Pena   (Kirtley   kick)

	Team Stats
School	Punts-Avg	Penalties-Yds	First Downs		Fumbles-Lost
Collegiate	8-90	17	1-1
Landon	7-70	17
Rushing Leaders
Collegiate	Att.- Yds.	Landon	Att.- Yds.	TDs
Myles Allen	14-152	1
Johari Johnson	8-94	1
Jamal Francois	12-83	2
Philip Pena	11-44
Dominique   Seagears	4-29
Colton Rupp	2-(-1)

Passing Leaders
Collegiate	Cmp.-Att.-TD Yds.	Landon	Cmp.-Att.-TD Yds.
Speight	22-47-1 377	Philip Pena	2-5-0 55     1

Receiving Leaders	TDs
Collegiate	Rec.- Yds.	Landon	Rec.- Yds.	TDs
Austin Petty	2-55	1