The lights were shining, the crowd was cheering, and St. Paul’s had already scored seven points. Junior Austin Markley had no time to worry about that, as the ball was flying through the air straight towards him. He could feel his stomach churning, but he knew it was now or never. Adrenaline pumping through his veins, Markley caught the ball and ran in to the 35 yard line.
JC played St. Paul’s School for Boys on Sept. 30 under the lights for the first home game of the season. St. Paul’s defeated JC 35 – 9.
The game started with junior Alex Gambrell kicking the ball off to St. Paul’s senior London Fitzhugh, who ran the ball to the 30 yard line. With a few quick plays St. Paul’s managed to get the ball into the Patriots’ end zone. Tacking on the extra point, the score became 7- 0 within the first five minutes of the game.
Gambrell kicked the ball downfield to JC, where Markley received it and ran to about the 35 yard line. On the next play, quarterback and junior Brandon Lewis handed the ball off to sophomore Gus Lane who carried it to the 45. The referee threw a flag against St. Paul’s moving the ball up to the 50 yard line, adding to the Patriots’ progress.
“When I received that first long kick return, I knew that we had a chance of coming back against St. Paul’s and answering with a touchdown of our own,” Markley said.
Lewis passed the ball to junior Montell Martin who received it and was tackled on the St. Paul’s 40. After a few unsuccessful plays, JC was forced to punt the ball. St. Paul’s ran the ball up the field to be stopped by senior Jon Galarraga. JC’s efforts weren’t
able to stop St. Paul’s, who scored again, making the score 14-0. The rest of the first quarter passed without any more points scored by either team.
The second quarter began with Gambrell kicking a 37 yard field goal, bringing the score to 14-3, St. Paul’s still in the lead. Gambrell kicked the ball back to St. Paul’s where senior Spencer Parks ran the ball all the way to the Patriot two yard line before being pushed out. St. Paul’s junior Dale Harris was able to score a touchdown for the Crusaders, raising the score
to 21-3.
The rest of the quarter followed with a few unsuccessful drives by both teams, until finally St. Paul’s scored again. The score at half
time was 28-3 with St. Paul’s in the lead.
“The best moment in the game for me was at halftime in the locker room. Luke Navin sparked our defense with his inspirational speech,” Lewis said.
The second half began with Markley charging down the field to the JC 15 yard line. The Patriots made it halfway up the field before the drive came to an end. St. Paul’s returned with a run down to the Patriots’ ten yard line before scoring a touchdown, making the score 35-3
In the fourth quarter JC got the ball back, but soon kicked it off to St. Paul’s. They drove it down the field where JC freshman Allen
Bryant intercepted the ball and was tackled at the St. Paul’s 40 yard line. JC continued the drive, which ended in Lewis making a 10 yard touchdown pass to Martin. JC went for a two-point conversion, but was unsuccessful, the score becoming
35-9.
The rest of the fourth quarter passed with little success by either team, with the final score being 35-9.
“Looking back at the game, it was definitely a disappointing loss, but our team doesn’t have time to look back and grieve about this loss with more games still left in our season. We have a very good chance to win out the rest of our games and make it to the four team playoff this year,” Lewis said.
Emily Clarke is a Managing Editor for the Patriot and jcpatriot.com.