Leonardtown stings Great Mills

Raiders win first game of year; Hornets QB Rosado ‘all right’ after injury

Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff Photos by Reid Silverman Senior Michael Hebb picked up 200 yards on 17 carries Friday night, which included a 78-yard touchdown run in the first quarter of a Raiders shutout. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story Click here to enlarge this photo Leonardtown football coach Anthony Pratley celebrates his first win with his players Friday night.

Behind the running of senior Michael Hebb, the passing of senior Bruce Julian and a defense that allowed Great Mills to penetrate inside their 20-yard line only twice, the Raiders picked up their first victory of the season with a 19-0 shutout Friday evening at Hornets Stadium.

‘‘We’re 1-0,” Julian said. ‘‘The first four games, we wrote those off as preseason. Our season restarted [last] Monday and now we’re 1-0 and we’re going on with the rest of the season.”

It’s the first time since 2003 that Leonardtown has defeated Great Mills.

‘‘This win means a new season,” Hebb said. ‘‘We started the season off at 0-0, no losses and no wins. Right now, we just opened up with a win, so we’re trying to finish the season at 6-4.”

The win is the first for head coach Anthony Pratley.

‘‘It’s moving us forward in the right direction,” Pratley said. ‘‘We really have been talking about turning the ship around and I think this is going to help move us in that direction.”

Hebb picked up 200 yards on 17 carries with a touchdown. He also grabbed two balls for 44 yards and a touchdown.

‘‘We challenged him this week to step up,” Pratley said. ‘‘We knew he could have a great game if he brought his ‘A’ game and he certainly did that and then some.”

Leonardtown (1-4, 1-3 SMAC) outgained Great Mills, 422-256, including a 277-14 margin on the ground.

‘‘All week in practice, we said, ‘Mike, make one cut and go,’” said Julian, who was 7 of 15 passing for 145 yards with a touchdown and an interception to go along with 16 carries for 53 yards and a touchdown rushing, ‘‘and he found that cut. He found that back lane and used his speed and turned it on.”

The closest Great Mills got to the end zone was the Raiders 14 on the Hornets’ last drive of the game.

‘‘Every man plays his position and only his position,” Leonardtown senior linebacker Stephen Norris said of the team’s goal on defense. ‘‘Don’t worry about what anyone else is doing. You do your job and zero points.”

On the second play of Great Mills’ first possession of the half, senior quarterback Christian Rosado suffered a right ankle injury at the end of a running play and was taken off on a stretcher.

In an e-mail Tuesday morning, Griffith said: ‘‘Christian has a high ankle sprain and should be all right.”

‘‘The last couple of weeks, he had a mild sprain in his ankle,” Griffith said after Friday’s game. ‘‘He made a move, the kid went low on him and as he tried to spin off the kid caught him low on the leg and he felt a pop.”

Griffith has seven starters out.

‘‘It’s really hurting us,” Griffith said. ‘‘We came out in the first half and didn’t play well offensively or defensively. Second half, our defense stepped it up; offense moved the ball and then we kill ourselves down in the red zone with a bunch of different penalties. ... Just mental mistakes killed us.”

Rosado completed 7 of 15 passes for 105 yards. Senior Alvin Dyson took his place and had a 9-of-17 performance for 136 yards. Griffith said Tuesday morning via e-mail that Dyson will probably start this week as the Hornets (0-5, 0-4) travel to McDonough. Leonardtown plays at North Point.

‘‘Alvin stepped in and did a nice job for us,” Griffith said. ‘‘He hasn’t had a lot of snaps because Christian is our No. 1 man, so he got very few snaps. He stepped in and did what he had to do for us and he moved the ball down the field. He gave us a little bit more mobility tonight.

‘‘This week, he’ll get a lot of the reps and we’ll see what we can do with one of our backups, maybe even have to bring up one of our JV backs to back up.”

Leonardtown went for it on fourth and 13 at its own 19 on its second drive of the game. Julian, on a fake, completed a pass to senior Ryan Dishman, but it was only for eight yards and the Raiders turned the ball over on downs.

It gave Great Mills field position at the Leonardtown 27, but it couldn’t get a first down. Rosado’s pass to senior Charles Tawiah on fourth and six went for five yards and the Hornets turned the ball over on downs.

Two plays after Leonardtown got the ball back, Hebb ran 78 yards to the end zone for the game’s first points. Junior Mike Copenhaver connected on the extra point, and the Raiders led 7-0 with 4 minutes 23 seconds left in the first quarter.

‘‘[The offensive line] opened the hole and I just saw the wide-open lane,” Hebb said, ‘‘and I took it and just kept running.”

Early in the second quarter, Leonardtown faced fourth and 17 at the Great Mills 40. Julian found Hebb over the middle and he got around a couple of Hornets and went the distance to put the Raiders up 13-0 after the extra point attempt failed.

‘‘It was a gutsy call by Coach,” Hebb said, ‘‘but they were bringing the heat so we figured we can get them on a screen and we did. Once I got into the secondary, I knew it was a touchdown.”

Leonardtown received the second-half kickoff and went down the field for its final points of the night. Hebb’s 43-yard run set up first and goal at the Great Mills 3. Two plays later, Julian went into the end zone from one yard out. The two-point conversion failed and the Raiders led 19-0.

‘‘The offensive line was especially standout tonight,” Julian said. ‘‘They were bringing almost eight guys sometimes and guys were standing up — both guards, tackles, center. We got down on the goal line and I walked up right under my center and he was getting them and we were able to go right in.”

Great Mills’ final drive of the game started at its own 6. Dyson led the Hornets down the field, completing 5 of 8 passes for 59 yards and running five times for nine yards.

A Dyson interception on fourth down at the Leonardtown 19 was wiped away by a facemask penalty, which put the ball at the 14. Dyson’s next pass went incomplete and the Raiders ran out the clock.

E-mail Paul Watson at pwatson@somdnews.com.