by Lisa Hinton-Valdrighi
Lancaster put up a goal line stand that kept Sussex out of the end zone as time expired last Wednesday to force an overtime period in the Red Devils’ season opener in varsity football.
The Tigers scored on both of their overtime possessions to get by the Devils, 26-20.
Regulation time ended with the score locked at 14-14 and both teams scored in their first OT possessions to bring up another 20-20 knot. However, the Devils were unable to score on four downs in the second OT possession and the Tigers put the ball in the end zone on fourth down for the win.
“We gave a lot of effort, which says something about these young guys,” said LHS coach Draper Washington. “The heat hurt us because we were asking the same guys to play the entire game. That’s a lot to ask. I felt bad for them because I knew they were tired but I said, ‘You’re so close right now, just keep fighting’.”
In terms of time of possession, offensive yardage and number of plays, Sussex and Lancaster matched up like a set of identical twins. The Tigers ran 50 plays and gained 293 total yards. The Devils ran 53 plays and had 297 total yards of offense…
