Tying touchdown leads to LHS win

FOOTBALL

By Tim Falls, Sports Editor
   Colin Anderson made one critical catch for the Cardinal football team.
   The Lawrence High School senior pulled down a 42-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Anthony Russ to tie Nottingham, 14-14, near the end of the first half.
   Lawrence added two more touchdowns in the second half and shut down the Northstars and the Cardinals won, 28-14, for their first win of the season after falling to West Windsor-Plainsboro South in their Colonial Valley Conference opener the previous week.
   Lawrence played catch up in the first half until Anderson’s touchdown reception. Anderson had to leap off the goal-line to make the play under tight coverage and the Cardinal senior came down with the football in the end zone.
   Lawrence coach Rob Radice stressed the importance of that play.
   ”It was really important to get to 14-14,” said Radice. “A lot that has to do with #17 (Russ). He does a great job running the offense. He plays within himself. He does the things he needs to do to be successful.”
   Russ threw 13-for-19 for 121 yards with one interception and the Cardinal quarterback praised Anderson for tying the score.
   ”We ran the fake screen and I looked deep because Colin was really my only read,” said Russ. “I saw their corner had leverage on him. I just threw it up and let him make the play. All the credit should go to him, he did an outstanding job. There’s nothing else to say.”
   Anderson’s 42-yard touchdown catch was his only reception, although it was the most total receiving yardage for any receiver in the game.
   ”I put my hands up hoping I would catch it,” said Anderson, “and I did and it was in the end zone.”
   Unlike in Lawrence’s opening loss, the Cardinals went into half time tied and came out with the momentum to win. Against the Pirates in the opener, Lawrence drove to tie the score at the end of the first half, but, despite a spectacular pass that put the Cardinals almost on the goal line, time expired before the Cardinals could score.
   ”I wanted us to be 1-1 by the end of this game,” said Anderson. “Our defense came through for us and offensively we were just sound. In the end it all came together and we won the game.”
   After Nottingham took the lead in the first quarter, Lawrence tied the score with an 18-yard touchdown run by junior Keith Sherman.
   The two teams traded touchdowns in the second quarter, but only Lawrence found the end zone in the second half.
   Lawrence senior Sean Pearson scored the go-ahead touchdown on a six-yard run in the third quarter.
   ”It was a huge game, we lost last week, so coming in, it was a big game,” said Pearson. “They’re a good football team so it was huge to get a win on the board.”
   Not wanting to start the season with back-to-back losses, Lawrence looked at the tied score at half time as an opportunity.
   ”When we went into the locker room and it was tied up, 14-14, it was pretty much a gut check,” said Pearson. “We looked each other in the eye and knew we’d run for each other and block for each other and I think that was the difference.”
   Lawrence’s defense became tenacious in the second half and denied Nottingham any more trips to the end zone.
   ”We had bodies on bodies,” said Pearson. We were blocking much better. The defense kept building on what they were doing and kept getting better as the game went along.”
   Lawrence also made things harder for Nottingham by pinning the Northstars back on kickoffs.
   ”We did it on our terms,” said Radice. “We gave them two short fields to score. We felt they’re not gong to drive the field on us and score and that didn’t happen.”
   When Nottingham did start to threaten, Lawrence junior Jamal Taylor slapped down a fourth-down pass which would have given the Northstars a big first down with 2:30 left in the fourth quarter while trailing by just a touchdown.
   Instead, Lawrence took over and Sherman ran in a 53-yard touchdown to close the door on the Northstars.
   ”That was big, that was definitely a momentum changer,” said Russ of Taylor’s play. “They were driving and they had the momentum to take it from us, but Jamal is a great player and he always gives his all. We knew he’d come up with something, the defense would come up with something.”
   Stopping Nottingham on fourth down and then scoring on a long run let Lawrence run out the clock when they got the ball back and the Cardinals collected their first win of the season.
   ”It was not an easy victory,” said Radice, “not what the score maybe indicated. We knew they were coming in geared to get a victory. We felt we needed to have this victory. We needed to get to 1-1 and with that we’re excited and looking forward to our next game.”
   Lawrence is slated to play Hamilton (1-0) away at 11 a.m. on Saturday.