Charles County Lions shut out Baltimore

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

The Hurricanes and the Lions were both undefeated going into Saturday's game. The winner would pull into first place in the NFC Central division of the East Coast Football Association and the Lions picked up an important win, 27-0.

The Lions defense stopped the Hurricanes in their first possession of the game and they were forced to punt.

Lions backs Travis Savoy, Brandon Watson and Dwight Savoy then rushed for 48 yards and the drive was completed with a 16-yard pass from Tyler McConnell to Greg Bowman in the end zone.

The Hurricanes' second possession yielded them 23 yards and the Lions took over on downs. McConnell then threw passes to Watson for 28 yards, Derrick Manning for 42 and Bowman for 22 yards and the touchdown, completing a 92-yard passing drive and the score at the half had the Lions ahead 14-0.

The Lions received the ball to start the second half and Dwight Savoy returned it 30 yards for great field position on their own 48-yard line.

The Lions rushed the ball for 10 yards, had a 5-yard offsides penalty which put them on the Hurricanes' 47. McConnell then threw the ball to Bowman, who ran it into the end zone, scoring the third touchdown of the day.

Late in the fourth quarter, Lions linebacker L. J. Baker returned an interception 20 yards for the fourth and final touchdown of the day.

The Hurricanes got the ball back on their own 30 and had their most successful drive of the day for 46 yards. With 1 minute 30 seconds left in the game, Lions strong safety Travis McConnell returned another interception 10 yards, dashing any hope the Hurricanes had of scoring.

The Lions offense had 113 rushing yards and 155 passing yards, while defense played a really strong game in holding the Hurricanes to 97 yards rushing and 47 yards passing.

Travis McConnell had 11 tackles, an interception and three pass deflections and Will Johnson forced a fumble.

Cedric Thomas had nine tackles and Donald Knight had eight, while Clyde Jones had seven and Terry Barnes, Cameron Fuller and Averill Butler each had five.

Justin Kelly had six tackles and a sack and Joey Williamson also did well with 4 tackles and a sack. Fuller and Brandon Reece both had pass deflections. The Lions defense has held their opponents to six points so far this season.

The Lions' next game will be at home at Chaney Field, also known as "The Lion's Den" at 2 p.m. April 18 when they will take on the Waynesboro Tigers.

The Lions are sponsoring a food drive for the hungry in Appalachia and in Southern Maryland.

Donations will be accepted at the concession stand at the game.