Landon Football 10 Bullis 42

This is the third game in the IAC gauntlet—EHS, Prep and Bullis—all have squads heavily laden with seniors, size and college commits. The Bears in contrast have seven seniors on their roster. Youth is resilient, in the abstract, but the experience of facing those opponents could have easily wilted to that difficult schedule. One of the reasons why Paul Landon Banfield instituted football at the school he founded was because he believed that the game develops character. Friday night’s game out at Potomac showed that the seniors can lead their underclassmen to fight against adversity.

The score does not demonstrate the effort and enthusiasm of the Landon team. The Bulldogs hit and hit hard; the sounds of the on-field collisions could be heard in the stands. Blocks were thrown by the home team everywhere and anywhere during the game. Those efforts did not break the determination of the Bears. The visitors were evidencing their grit and grace all the way through the 4^th period. They were not intimidated and continued to fight until the clock read 0:00. Bear backs continued to keep driving after tackles; the line did not relent in the O blocking and their D assignments.

This is not a story to be told in the ordinary narrative; the yards and downs do not evidence the constant drive of the Bears. There are not statistics for centers/guards/tackles holding their blocks against their opponents. A running back who absorbed a massive blow and kept his legs pounding against an adversary. A DB covering the opposing WR so that the pass could not completed are not recorded in our stats. And so on..

The statistics are kept for easily measurable numbers; those date points are associated with individuals and represent individual surrogates of what are really team efforts. The below numbers are offered to show the collective character of all of the Bears who play for Landon:

• John Geppert –12 carries for 68 yards, 1 TD and an uncounted number of tackles

• Tejon Ford—3 kick-off returns for 140 yards

• Bear Running Offense—37 carries for 172 yards (all runners were ’18,’19 and ’20)

• Joey Epstein—2 TFLs, 2 caused hurried passes, 1 fumble recovery

• Aaron Broner—22yard field goal, several good punts

• Many other individual efforts – which were not recorded, best example of determination: last drive by Landon 28 yards in 8 plays

Having heard the home announcer help redefine the term “homer”, having seen the world’s largest mirror (what good is a video Tron if it only mirrors the play on its big screen) and having endured two onside kicks by a team with a substantial score advantage, the young Bears will remember those annoyances over the next few years of games against the Bulldogs of Potomac.

Beat the Bulldogs of Mt. St. Albans