Prin pulls away from Lutheran South
Matt Marty is a patient man.
He has to be.
The Lutheran South football coach and his assistants are in the midst of resurrecting the Lancers’ program. They’re trying to reshape these young men one squat, one curl and one bench press at a time. Results don’t come fast and they don’t come easy.
But they do come.
Before this season Lutheran South managed to win two of its last 30 games on the gridiron. Last week, the Lancers scored their first win of this season, knocking off DuBourg.
This week Lutheran South faced a tall order – Principia.
It was one year ago Principia scored on every offensive possession and put a 69-0 thumping on the Lancers.
Friday night the Lancers hosted Principia and, for the most part, held their own, taking another small step in the right direction.
Principia posted a 33-0 ABC League victory and ran the score to 19-0 late in the first quarter. But, that’s as much as the Panthers (4-0 overall, 2-0 ABC) would get until the fourth quarter. Lutheran South (1-3, 0-2) played stout defensively and controlled the football with the ground game to keep Principia’s offense on the sideline.
“They made some great adjustments,” Principia skipper Brad Warrick said. “My hat’s off to that team. You can tell how much better they are from last year to this year.”
Senior running back Larry Patterson did most of the damage for the Panthers as he rushed for 110 yards and two touchdowns and added a 70 yard punt return for a touchdown to boot.
Principia senior quarterback Luke Barthelmess completed six of his 18 passes for 78 yards and two touchdowns. Both scores went to senior wide receiver Tim Gilman who caught three passes for 38 yards.
While Warrick praised the Lancers for making plays that limited his team, the Panthers were their own worst enemy at times. They had a pair of touchdowns called back after penalties, they turned the ball over and were sloppy.
“That was a lack of focus,” Warrick said. “It’s very frustrating. Obviously it’s something we have to improve on. They (the players) are all very upset right now.”
To keep Principia’s offense on the sideline, Lutheran South relied on senior fullback Brett Bauer. The big hoss carried the ball 20 times for 82 of the toughest yards you ever did see. It wasn’t flashy and it didn’t produce highlight reel plays but every time Bauer touched the ball he managed to rush for about four yards. The Lancers just couldn’t string enough plays together to reach the Principia red zone as the Panther defense bent but didn’t break.
“We made too many mistakes and hurt ourselves,” Marty said. “We couldn’t quite get the consistency we needed. We have six more weeks to reach the goals we’ve set.”
Lutheran South plays at Lutheran North at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Principia hosts MICDS at 1 p.m. Saturday.
dkvidahl@yourjournal.com
