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Calvert on short end of shootout
Leonardtown rallies in fourth quarter
Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2008
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by DARWIN WEIGEL
Calvert's Zac Beukers is taken down by Leonardtown's Mark Bohanon as Raiders' teammate Patrick Herriman moves in to help during the first half of Leonardtown's 38-28 win Thursday.
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As Leonardtown quarterback Michael Copenhaver spoke with reporters after his team's victory over Calvert, Raiders head coach Anthony Pratley walked by and jokingly told him to give plenty of credit to his coach.
Copenhaver did so. But, out on the field, all the credit went to the senior, as the Raiders' won a wild 38-28 victory over the host Cavaliers on Thursday.
Copenhaver rushed for 239 yards and three touchdowns and passed for two more to help Leonardtown (2-5, 2-4 SMAC) collect its second victory of the season
"He brings athleticism; the kid is just a pure athlete," Pratley said of Copenhaver, who is being recruited for lacrosse. "He's just tough as nails. He's not very big at all, but what he lacks in size, he makes up for in heart, because the kid just doesn't lay down. He gets hit three, four, five times but he just keeps running."
Copenhaver's field day came as no surprise to the Cavaliers.
"All week we preached, ‘Stop No. 3, stop No. 3, stop No. 3," Calvert head coach Marc Watson said. "We knew he was a threat so we worked on that all week. We played man [coverage] and kept guys in the box ,but it just didn't go our way."
"He's a good player," said Calvert senior tackle Nick Kern. "He's good at shifting around."
Calvert (1-6, 1-5) was coming off its first win of the season, a 12-2 come-from-behind win over Thomas Stone.
"We missed some assignments tonight, which hurt us real bad," Watson said. "We just came up short, but that's football. A team's going to win and team's going to lose. If a couple plays go our way, then we're on the better half of the scoreboard."
It took the Cavaliers 15 seconds to get on the better half of the scoreboard when Zac Beukers took the opening kickoff and raced 74 yards for the touchdown.
The next three series all ended in touchdowns and an early second quarter pass play put the Raiders ahead 18-13.
Two series' later, Leonardtown was faced with a fourth down and 20 at its own 29-yard line and lined up to punt. But, Copenhaver took a direct snap and raced untouched down the left sideline for the touchdown.
But Calvert got a big boost when Lucas Hornick hauled in a 25-yard scoring toss with two seconds left in the half.
"We were down and we needed to get something by halftime to bring our spirits back up," the senior said.
Beukers burrowed his way into the end zone from three yards out on Calvert's first second half possession to push ahead 28-25, but Leonardtown answered back with a demoralizing 80-yard, 16-play, 10 minute 7 second drive.
Copenhaver capped off the clock-eating drive when he sneaked in from two yards out.
"That's a dagger," Pratley said of the lengthy drive. "When you can take a team as good as they are and drive it home, it takes the spirit out of them."
While Calvert focused on Copenhaver, the Raiders made Calvert senior running back Brandon Greening (17 carries for 125 yards) their focus.
"Calvert has some athletes on their side; that Greening kid is tremendous," Pratley said. "We weren't going to let him beat us because he's as good as any athlete there is in this conference and I mean that sincerely."
The Cavaliers agreed they wouldn't give up.
"They're not going to quit, they're going to play," Watson said. "We took a step back with the loss, but we're going to come back Monday refocused and get back to work."
"I'm letting everybody know we're brothers and we have to stick together no matter what and we'll fight right to the end," said Calvert senior defensive back Deontre Hawkins.
Kern added: "We played hard and we learned some things tonight and we'll fix them. We're just as focused as ever. This is Calvert football, it's what we do."
mreid@somdnews.com
