Bordentown football squad rallies for first win

BY: Sean Moylan Sports Writer
    One of the best things one can say about the Bordentown Regional High football team’s 14-8 victory at Burlington City this past Friday night was the Scotties’ triumphant comeback win was not unexpected. Nonetheless, the victory was very much appreciated.
    “It was very nice to finally get a win under our belt,” said Bordentown Regional High football head coach Larry Larned, who has done a masterful job of rebuilding the Scotties’ football program. “It was nice to win after playing two tough opponents (Palmyra and Woodrow Wilson) in our first two games.”
    Scotties’ senior running back Thomas Lee ran for 112 yards on 21 carries and he scored the game-
winning touchdown on an 8-yard run with 7:39 remaining in the fourth quarter. He also rushed for the subsequent 2-point conversion to give his club a 14-8 lead.
    “Thomas Lee scored on an iso. That was a nice sustained drive,” remarked Larned. “Thomas Lee has been working hard this season and we put the (rushing) load on him.”
    Although Burlington City scored late in the first quarter on a 20-yard touchdown pass by backup quarterback Barry Conaway to Markese Morris and added a two-
pointer to take an 8-0 lead, the Scotties were pretty confident they could come back, especially since Blue Devils’ talented starting quarterback Shawn Diamond was injured and out of the game.
    Early in the first quarter, Bordentown defender Spike Pasqual (nine tackles and a sack) raced past the Blue Devil offensive linemen following a botched snap and made contact with Diamond and recovered his subsequent fumble. The Blue Devils’ play caller suffered a shoulder injury on the same play.
    Bordentown defensive linemen Shakir Khalid and Matt Bauer (seven tackles and a sack) came with intense pressure the whole game and when they didn’t make the tackles inside linebacker Leon Jackson (nine tackles) was often there to mop up and stop the Blue Devils’ ball carriers dead in their tracks.
    While Burlington City led 8-0 at the half, Larned knew his game plan would eventually work and consequently he made very few changes at the half. It certainly helped that the Scotties’ punter-
kicker Pete Pulhac booted one long ball after another and made sure the Blue Devils’ offense was playing on a long field most of the game.
    “We won the field position battle the whole night,” added Larned.
    In the third quarter, following some punishing runs by Lee, Scotties’ quarterback Brett Pederson threw a 16-yard touchdown to Pulhac on a fade pattern. But the Scotties attempt at a two-point conversion failed and they still trailed 8-6 until Lee scored his timely touchdown.
    Pederson finished the contest with five completions on 14 attempts for 44 yards and he also ran for 6 yards. Pulhac caught two of those balls for 30 yards while Pasqual (a 9-yard reception and 12 yards rushing) and Lee (a 7-yard catch) also made catches for positive yardage.
    Lee also came through on the defensive side of the ball and recorded a team-high 10 tackles and two sacks. Bordentown’s defense held Burlington City to under 100 yards rushing (96) and 20 yards passing. But ultimately the Scotties won because they managed to keep their cool in a close game.
    “We had good practices the whole bye week and early the next week our practices were very good. But our last couple of practices were shaky,” said Larned, whose team got off to a bit of a shaky start on Friday night but quickly righted the ship.
    In the end, the Scotties played like veterans and Lee stepped up and made big plays in crunch time. That’s what winners do.
    Bordentown (1-2) is scheduled to host Riverside this coming Saturday afternoon.