Sneaky business leads to victory

Julian QB sneaks, Hebb’s 195 yards give L-town football 2nd straight win

Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007

The second win of the season marks only the second season in the last five in which the Raiders have won two games, the last coming in 2003.

Down three points with a little more than one minute remaining in the game and facing fourth and two from the 3-yard line, Leonardtown quarterback Bruce Julian quickly snapped the ball and plunged toward the goal line. As the referee ran toward the center of the pile, he thrust two arms in the air signaling a touchdown. The go-ahead touchdown gave the Raiders the lead, 20-17, with only 59 seconds remaining in the game.

‘‘It feels great as a team to win,” Julian said. ‘‘We came back [from halftime] as a team and everybody did their job all the way through. ... Quarterback sneaks are great but what is really great is knowing you have an offensive line in front of you that all you have to do is walk on in.”

The sneak was Julian’s second one in the game converted for a touchdown, the first coming late in the first quarter.

North Point’s ensuing drive was ended with a first-play interception thrown by quarterback Danny Dempsey.

Leonardtown (2-4, 2-3 SMAC) was led by senior running back Mike Hebb, who continually gashed the Eagles defense for big gains. His biggest run came in the form of a 53-yard gallop late in the first quarter that set up a Leonardtown touchdown. Hebb went for 195 rushing yards and a touchdown on 30 attempts.

‘‘Sometimes you have to do what you have to do to get the victory,” Hebb said. ‘‘I knew if I stayed close [to the line of scrimmage] they would get sucked in and then I would just bounce it to the outside. Other than that, I just lowered my shoulders and kept my legs moving.”

During Leonardtown’s last drive of the game, Hebb was given the ball on six consecutive plays, leading to the go-ahead touchdown. Head coach Anthony Pratley continued to let Hebb pound away.

‘‘He is a phenomenal athlete,” Pratley said of Hebb. ‘‘I couldn’t be happier with him. Mike is a hard runner. He is a cutter, he’s got speed, he is our leading rusher every game. He takes a beating but just keeps on going. He is a wonderful kid.”

Hebb was rewarded for his hard work in the third quarter with a two-yard touchdown run that tied the game at 14 with five minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Leonardtown would then fall behind again, after a North Point field goal with 4 minutes 17 seconds left in the game made the score 17-14. Hebb and the Raiders offense then proceeded on their last drive.

North Point (1-5, 1-4) head coach Ken Lane said: ‘‘We made mental mistakes and we turned the ball over and that usually comes back to bite you, especially in a close ballgame. ... They controlled the line of scrimmage there at the end of the game and drove it down on us. ... They were able to run the ball on us three and four yards a pop; we would get them at third and short and couldn’t stop them. ... It eventually wore us out.”

‘‘It was a character win for us,” Pratley said. ‘‘We were trying to figure out what kind of team we had. ... One win is one thing, but to get two in a row is huge for this program. We are just really trying to right the ship.”

Leonardtown looks to make it three in a row in its homecoming game Friday against a Calvert team that is coming off of its first win of the season.

E-mail James A. McCray III at jmccray@somdnews.com.