The New Hope High School football team’s defense spent much of Friday night on the field, and the offense struggled to get in a groove.
That combination spelled doom for New Hope in a 15-12 loss to Lake Cormorant in a Class 5A, Region 1 game at Trojan Field.
The Trojans (4-4, 2-2 region) used a defensive touchdown by Preston Davis and a touchdown pass from quarterback Brady Davis to wide receiver Daniel Gregory to take a 12-7 lead into the third quarter.
However, the Gators (3-5, 1-3) engineered a 49-yard touchdown drive, highlighted by a fake punt, and took the lead on a fourth-down touchdown pass.
With a fourth-and-4 on New Hope’s 43-yard line, Lake Cormorant coach Nick Nester called a fake punt with Steven Sanders. The result was a 28-yard run, some of which was erased by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Six plays later on a fourth-and-goal from the 5, quarterback Brett Thompson escaped the pass rush long enough to find Andrez Anderson wide open in the end zone.
The Gators took the 13-12 lead into the fourth quarter. From there, the defense and special teams held on.
With the Trojans’ backs to their end zone, Davis received an intentional grounding call in the end zone that was ruled a safety that pushed Lake Cormorant’s lead to 15-12.
In the final minutes, Davis threw a fourth-down interception to defensive back Jarvis Hankerson. New Hope’s defense gave the offense one last shot by forcing a fumble with one minute left. After Davis marched the Trojans to the 30, field goal kicker Austin Oswalt had his game-tying attempt blocked as time expired.
“When you don’t make plays, you don’t win,” New Hope coach Michael Bradley said.
Sophomore running back Jeremy McKinley (26 carries, 159 yards) helped the Gators rush for 218 yards to complement Thompson, who threw for two touchdowns.
“We just challenged our offensive line at halftime,” Nester said.
Davis (177 passing yards) threw one touchdown and two interceptions. Wide receiver Daniel Gregory had five catches for 93 yards and a touchdown. The Trojans rushed for only 57 yards.
The teams combined for 26 penalties, including five personal fouls.
“A lot of penalties,” Bradley said in a disappointed tone.
Nester was just thankful the rash of infractions didn’t result in another loss.
“That’s been our story all year,” Nester said. “We’ve beat ourselves, but thankfully today we were able to fight through the penalties.”
The Trojans defense sprinted out of the gates when Davis intercepted Thompson and ran it back for a touchdown with 7 minutes, 47 seconds left in the first quarter. The ensuing extra point attempt was wide left and the Trojans held a 6-0 lead.
The Gators responded by going 70 yards in nine plays, capped by a 30-yard touchdown strike from Thompson to Ryan Golden on a fourth-and-16 play to take a 7-6 lead.
The Trojans stormed out of halftime with a quick touchdown drive on five plays that took two minutes. The finale was a 55-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Davis to Gregory. The two-point conversion was unsuccessful to give the Trojans a 12-7 lead.
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