FootballIt wasn’t a pleasant experience to be on the Lawrence Cardinal sideline this past Saturday at Nottingham.
By: Steve Feitl
The Cardinal football team was defeated handily 41-7 by the Northstars, dropping Lawrence’s record to 1-2 on the young season.
What upset head coach Rob Radice most was the nature of the loss.
This was not a loss where the Cardinals could build on what they did do well.
Instead it was one the team will attempt to regroup from this week, when Hamilton comes to town.
The Cardinals were plagued by blown coverages and penalties for too many men on the field or "mental errors" as Radice called them.
"I can take physical breakdowns," he said after the game. "I can’t take mental ones."
Radice was surprised to see his team breakdown like it did against Nottingham.
While the Cardinals were handled by Notre Dame a week earlier, Lawrence played well for the most part and was able to stage a late-game comeback.
None of that was true against Nottingham.
"And this was coming off our best week of practice this year," Radice said. "Maybe it’s out youth. If I knew what it was, it wouldn’t be happening."
The Cardinals fell behind 27-0 early in the second quarter before they made any noise of their own.
Quarterback Charlie Park used a sneak to get into the end zone for the touchdown with 9:25 to play in the half. Once kicker Ryan Dunn nailed the extra point, the score was 27-7 and that would be as close as the Cardinals would come.
Nottingham added a score on a 6-yard touchdown pass with 18 seconds left in the half. The 34-7 lead held up until early in the fourth quarter when the Northstars struck again this time on a 7-yard run. Once the kick was good, the final score of 41-7 was set.
The Cardinals went back to work Monday after watching the game film of their performance.
Radice said the players felt bad about the way they played against Nottingham and seemed determined to rebound this week.
But things won’t be easy for the Cardinals. Hamilton comes to town this week, and the quick Hornets are fresh off a loss to Notre Dame on Saturday. Hamilton will likely be looking to take out its frustrations on Lawrence, while the Cardinals are just looking to get on the right track.
"I felt we played better in our loss to Notre Dame than we did the week before (in a 42-0 win over West Windsor-Plainsboro)," Radice said. "I thought we improved from week one to week two. We did not improve in week three. In fact, we took a step back.
"We’re looking to go back in the right direction this week."
Game time for the Hamilton game is 11 a.m. at LHS.