Landon Football 21 Woodberry Forest 3

Temple Grassi, a 20 year Landon teacher, was a graduate of the WFS. He died recently and the home team streamcast and game announcer honored this wonderful member of both schools.

Our Condolences to the Grassi family and his large collection of friends, a group which I am proud to have been a member.

The Bears traveled the 80 miles it takes to get to the land of two American founders- Monticello  and Montpelier. Woodberry, on Madison family land,  was established in 1889 (only 40 years older than Landon). The campus is impressive with massive trees everywhere, grass- green and manicured and every building and even the posts around the football field look like it was designed by Williamsburg.

The Bears won the toss and elected to kick off. The Tigers gained 24 yards on a combination of passes and runs. Yards were lost due to a TFL by Alexandro Auburn. Which contributed to  3^RD and 11 situation. Hunter Taylor recognized the down and distance; so, was ready to purloin the pass, which he did. Deep in his own territory, the safety returned the ball to the WF 14. Two Bear runs set up a 3^rd down and QB Nathan Furgeson connected with WR Carter Phillips for a TD @ 8:35. The PAT team, Bradley Banfield snaps to Nathan Rosner whose set of the ball for a Hunter conversion. BEARS 7 TIGERS 0

This kickoff backed the Tigers to their own 20- a run, a pass, a penalty and an incomplete led to the WFS punt. Pushed to their own 20 Landon ran twice, had an incomplete pass and drew a penalty. A Taylor-made punt from the end zone moved the home team to the 50 yard line and a combination of ground and air attacks set up a 4^th down FG attempt of 16 yards. These plays moved the scoreboard to Q2. The ghost of Keith Simms (L’16 who blocked eight kicks during a five-week span) placed a Bear body in front of the Tiger kick.

END OF 1^ST Q BEARS 7 TIGERS 0

A series of runs and a pass moved the Landon line of scrimmage to the 46. A nice run was negated by a Bear penalty and led to another interception (this one, perhaps another, was not Furgeson’s fault; a receiver tipped the ball and a Tiger DB caught it). WFS put together a nice seven play drive, but on 3^rd and long, DeAngelo Dickerson blitzed for a -12 TFL. With 1:30 left in the Q, the coaches decided to air out the ball and the 3^rd pass was caught (see above parenthesis) by the opponents. With 1:10 left to the intermission, the home team ran 7 plays. Fortunately, Bear TFLs by Zak Oehlerking and McConnell Albert kept WFS off of the score column.

HALFTIME BEARS 7 TIGERS 0

A varied visitors attack (pass/run/run/run/run/run/pass/pitch/run) brought the ball to within 17 yards of a 2^nd touchdown. Another Tiger DB got his hands on an errant pass, but was tackled on his own 3 yard line. [7:16]. Aided by three LS penalties and powered by some nice swing passes, WFS was at the 15 yard line on a 4^th down. This time the 27 yard FG attempt was good. TIGERS 3 BEARS 7

This kick-off seemed to get the attention of the white jerseys. In particular, TJ Kim, Ethan Ming, Jackson Knox and Nathan F., broke tackle after tackle (YAContact). Consuming 80 yards by land and air (Carter catch)rolled the clock into the last quarter, but the Bears continued on their drive.

END OF 3^RD Q BEARS 7 TIGERS 3

A 13 yard TD pass, Nathan F to Ethan, added to the Landon margin and the PAT TEAM converted @ 10:54 BEARS 14 TIGERS 3

At any time during the game, the Bear O line (Ty Reyes, William Abramson, Jeremiah Peebles (should be Boulder?),Koko Ahmadu, McConnell, Zak and others for sure) and the Bear D (Brian White, McConnell, Alexandro, Jeremiah, Cameron Brown, Anthony Savoy, Brad, DeAngelo, Ethan, Hunter, Christopher Wells, Zachery Cameron and others—many substitutions on both sides of the ball) deserve great credit of the outcome.

The Tigers continued to fight. Their QB found territory up the middle when he dropped back to pass and gained big chunks. When he stayed in the pocket under heavy pressure, he connected. The Bear D line kept the advance of WFS back with TFLs by Zak and Alexandro. The end result of these efforts was a 46 yard field goal attempt that hit the crossbar –No Good @6:20.

The Bear O executed flawlessly here; the runners (TJ, Aaron Hart, Nathan F) gained a lot of YAC yards. The linemen, after completing their blocks, joined the scrums to push the pile further. The clock wound down from 6:20 to 0:07 at which time Aaron ground out the final yards. PAT failed. BEARS 20 TIGERS 3

FINAL SCORE BEARS 20 TIGERS 3

Onto the Haverford School 10/2 2:30pm home. A PIAAC perennial powerhouse.

this is a devious attempt to avoid admitting that I did not see who did stuff the WFS attempt.