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L-town’s Pratley falls to Stone in debut
Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2007
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff Photos by Reid Silverman
Leonardtown senior quarterback Bruce Julian reaches for the sideline with Stone linebacker Ray Bruce draped on him, as the Raiders fell in head coach Anthony Pratley’s debut Friday evening.
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Stone scored three touchdowns on the ground, two through the air and another on defense.
‘‘I’m really proud of them. They did a great job,” Vedis said.
Senior quarterback Marquis Hagens threw for 135 yards on 4-of-6 passing and connected for two touchdowns and had a third on a quarterback keeper.
‘‘Glad to win number one for Coach Vedis,” Hagens said. ‘‘Hopefully, we’ll win many more. I’m glad to see him smiling, happy about the game. We came out there and did our best, that’s all we could do and then win the game for Coach Vedis.”
Senior wide receiver Justin Davis caught one of Hagens’ two touchdowns, a 65-yard strike.
‘‘I’m glad I did it for Vedis because Vedis was my track coach too and he’s pretty cool, so I’m glad to do it for him,” Davis said.
Senior nose guard Justin Bowersox put the icing on the cake when he intercepted a pass from Leonardtown senior quarterback Bruce Julian late in the third quarter and ran it back 45 yards for a touchdown.
‘‘We do it all for Coach Vedis,” Bowersox said. ‘‘He’s a first-year coach and he’s a very good coach and I’m glad we have him as a coach.”
Stone committed 14 penalties for 85 yards and lost two of four fumbles.
‘‘We’re still coming together as a team,” Hagens said. ‘‘We’ve only got so many players, so we’re still coming together.”
Leonardtown scored touchdowns on the opening possessions of the third and fourth quarters in the debut of its new head coach, Anthony Pratley.
‘‘I know [Stone] was above .500 last year and we’re going to be up against that every week,” Pratley said. ‘‘There’s no weak teams in SMAC and we know that and we need to bring our level up and we’re going to get there. It’s just going to take some time.”
Julian was 11 of 28 for 177 yards with two interceptions and one touchdown, which went for 84 yards down the left sideline to junior wide receiver Mike Copenhaver. Senior running Michael Hebb rushed 13 times for 81 yards and a touchdown, while catching five balls for 42 yards.
‘‘We thought we were going to connect on those earlier,” Pratley said. ‘‘But, Mike Hebb had a heck of a run down there before the goal line; he was not going to be denied and he just kept digging and digging, a great kid. And then the pass from Julian to Copenhaver, wide open, and Cope made a great catch and just took it the rest of the way. He’s an athlete.”
Hagens admitted being surprised as he and the Cougars received a much different look with the Pratley-led Raiders.
‘‘It wasn’t what I was expecting,” Hagens said. ‘‘They came out and played well. They put up a tough game against us, but we just came together.”
Senior running back Josh Proctor put Stone on the board halfway through the opening quarter on an 11-yard touchdown run. Then, almost three minutes into the second, Davis got behind the Leonardtown defense and ran free into the end zone. Stone led 13-0 after a bad snap on the extra point.
‘‘It felt good,” Davis said. ‘‘My first-ever high school [score] in a real game. But I’m not going to think about it too long because there’s still more games.”
Hagens’ one-yard quarterback keeper gave the Cougars a 19-0 lead with seven minutes left until halftime, as the point-after was blocked.
A Stone holding penalty on the final play of the first half allowed Leonardtown one untimed down. Julian’s pass went incomplete, and the Cougars led 19-0 at the half.
‘‘Offense moved the ball very, very well,” Pratley said. ‘‘[Defensively], they had a couple big plays, but if we can eliminate those big plays, then we’re going to be all right. We held them and held them and they pop a big one and we held them and held them and they pop another big one. We really need to cut down on the big plays and we’re going to be fine.”
The Raiders (0-1) started the second half with the ball and went down the field for their first score of the season.
Twice on the 5-minute-38-second drive, Leonardtown was faced with fourth down. On fourth and seven at the Stone 42, Julian fought for nine yards and a first down. Then, on the fourth and 11 at the Cougars 23, Julian connected with Hebb for 14 yards and another first down.
On third and goal from the 15, Hebb scampered down the left sideline and reached the ball over the goal line to pull the Raiders to within 19-6 with 6:16 left in the third, as the extra point failed.
Stone (1-0) answered three minutes later, as Hagens found senior wide receiver Bryan Doswell in the back of the end zone from 37 yards out.
‘‘Marquis just whips some beautiful balls in the air and our guys are there,” Vedis said.
‘‘They weren’t giving me much,” Hagens said. ‘‘I got to thank my O-line for blocking. It was just me rolling out and looking more on the field. I had more options and a lot of receivers just kept running good routes and I just kept putting them there.”
Then, Bowersox intercepted Julian.
‘‘I always watch games and I always see a defensive line doing huge plays and everything and I always tell myself, ‘Why not me?’” Bowersox said. ‘‘Anyone can do anything that they want to do if they put their mind to it, so I mean why not me?”
E-mail Paul Watson at pwatson@somdnews.com.
Stone 39, Leonardtown 12
