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Warriors snap losing streak to Mariners

Havre de Grace wins 26-12

BY RANDY MCROBERTS

Posted 11/03/10

The Havre de Grace Warriors varsity football team snapped a six-game losing streak to the Joppatowne Mariners Friday night in an UCBAC Chesapeake Division contest.

The Warriors and Mariners swapped points early in a game that was tight through one half, but Havre de Grace pitched a shutout in the second half and pulled way for a 26-12 win on the turf at James R. Harris Stadium in Havre de Grace.

Havre de Grace improved to 5-1 in the division and 7-2 overall, while Joppatowne slipped to 4-5 overall and 2-4 in division play.

The win kept Havre de Grace very much in the hunt for a top seed in the Class 1A east region playoffs, while the loss ended any chances the Mariners had of reaching the playoffs.

In Friday’s win, Havre de Grace and Joppatowne littered the scoreboard with 20 points in a two-minute stretch of the first quarter.

The Warriors opened the game with a 60-yard scoring drive that took nearly 6:00 off the clock.

Havre de Grace, which can move the ball through the air with the best of them, ran the ball on 10 of the drive’s 12 plays.

Michael Kelly, a transfer from Aberdeen seeing his first action as a Warrior, had an 11-yard run on the drive, while quarterback Darin Washington had six carries for 30 yards. His last carry was for no gain at the Mariners goal line and an illegal shift penalty against the Warriors pushed them back five yards to do what? Pass.

Washington’s lob into the left corner of the end zone was hauled in by Dayshawn Bolling for the 5-yard score and a 6-0 lead. Keith Sifford’s extra point kick was blocked.

Just a matter of seconds later the score was tied at 6-6.

Joppatowne’s Keith Wilson took the ensuing kickoff near his own 10-yard line.

Wilson raced through an opening up the middle, bounced out to the left along the Mariners sideline and just outran the Havre de Grace tacklers for a kick return touchdown.

Havre de Grace stopped the two-point conversion try by Joppatowne, leaving the score tied 6-6.

On Havre de Grace’s next possession it was a more usual offense that put the Warriors back ahead.

On first down, Washington connected with Bolling for a 46-yard gain to the Mariners 16 yard line.

The Mariners defense stiffened, forcing a fourth-and-7, but the Mariners jumped offside, making it a fourth-and-2. Michael Kelly ran five yards to the Joppatowne 3-yard line and scored from there on the next play.

Washington then ran for the two-point conversion and a 14-6 lead with 4:21 left in the opening quarter.

Joppatowne came right back, but not as quickly as the previous score.

From their own 23, the Mariners marched 77 yards in 12 plays, all runs, to pull within two.

Chris Wright did most of the damage, totaling 34 yards on the drive; the last two yards for touchdown.

The Mariners try for two was denied with 10:47 to play in the half.

Despite all the early scoring, the 14-12 Havre de Grace lead remained that way into the half.

The Mariners missed a potential scoring opportunity late in the half after a Joppatowne punt hit a Warrior player and the Mariners’ Rashawn Knockett recovered the ball at the Havre de Grace 40.

Wright was stopped for no gain on first down and quarterback Trey Goode threw incomplete passes on the next two downs.

Scoring for the Mariners looked even more promising in their third quarter opening drive.

The Mariners possession started at their own 39, but in two plays they were at the 50.

The drive moved the ball to the Havre de Grace 35, but consecutive sacks by the Warriors shut down the drive. Monty Werts and Andy Meiselwicz combined for an eight-yard loss and Erik Thompson sacked Goode for an 11-yard loss on the next down.

Havre de Grace capitalized on the defensive hold, taking over at its own 40 and moving 60 yards in six plays to extend the lead.

A five-yard facemask penalty against Joppatowne aided the drive that was capped off by Jordan Stallings’ one-yard touchdown run. The lead was 20-12 as the two-point pass was intercepted by Wilson.

The Mariners then had another ball bounce their way after being forced to punt.

The punted ball bounced off the helmet of Warrior return man Chris Askew and right into the hands of Joppatowne’s Ryan Butler. The ball was whistled dead at the Havre de Grace 36.

Five plays later the Mariners appeared ready to pull closer or even tie, but Shendell Chase fumbled the ball away at the Warriors 2-yard line after an 18-yard run.

Havre de Grace’s Bolling recovered the ball.

Havre de Grace then reeled off four straight gains of 10 yards or more to begin an eight-play scoring drive.

Stallings ran 21 yards for the score, but it was Michael Kelly’s 49 yards on four carries that ignited the drive. Kelly finished with 142 yards on 12 carries.

The Warriors defense then clamped down and forced the Mariners into two interceptions, one by Askew and one by Travonn Bond.

Havre de Grace will close out the regular season at Fallston, Friday night at 7 p.m. Joppatowne will close out its season at home, hosting C. Milton Wright at 7 p.m. Friday night.