L-town’s winning streak snapped

Johnson, Lackey prevail in SMAC’s version of ‘Monday Night Football’

Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2007

Friday’s constant rain forced Lackey and Leonardtown to play their scheduled contest three nights later at Raider Stadium. And just like ESPN’s ‘‘Monday Night Football” with Green Bay’s Brett Favre highlighting the matchup with the Broncos, there was a ratings grabber at Leonardtown, too, as two of the SMAC’s top running backs, Lackey senior Michael Johnson and Leonardtown senior Michael Hebb, were in action.

Hebb rushed for almost 150 yards for the second straight game, but Johnson scored a touchdown and the visiting Chargers came through with a 20-6 victory.

‘‘To me, I think we’re a good on-the-road team,” said Johnson, who had 15 carries for 72 yards. ‘‘There hasn’t been a time where we let [things] come over us when it comes down to on the road. I think we keep our heads high when it comes down to that.”

Lackey overcame eight penalties and lost fumbles on its opening drives of the first and second halves.

‘‘Had some difficulties getting the snap, had some difficulties getting after the football a little bit,” Chargers head coach Doug Lamb said. ‘‘Maybe that had to do with a little bit of the weather, but things that have to be fixed.”

Senior linebacker Matt Brown intercepted Leonardtown senior quarterback Bruce Julian midway through the fourth quarter and returned it 55 yards to give Lackey some breathing room.

‘‘It was just me being there at the right place at the right time,” Brown said.

Lackey (6-2, 6-0 SMAC) moved into a three-way tie with Westlake and Patuxent for tops in the conference. The Chargers host Westlake at 7 p.m. Saturday.

‘‘I call it a good conference win,” Lamb said. ‘‘Anytime you’re rolling along and anytime you can travel on a Monday night an hour away and takes you a little bit out of your routine, it’s a good win.”

Behind Hebb’s 26 carries for 148 yards, Leonardtown outrushed Lackey, 233-149.

‘‘Lackey’s a good football team,” Raiders head coach Anthony Pratley said. ‘‘They take three guys out, put three more in there that are just as good and they physically wore us down in the second half. That’s really what it came down to.”

Leonardtown, while losing only one of five fumbles on the muddy surface, made its own share of mistakes.

‘‘We cost ourselves the ballgame,” Pratley said. ‘‘We made a lot of mistakes early and it was hard to recover.”

The Raiders (3-5, 3-4) had their three-game win streak, their first in 10 years, snapped. They travel to Landon School at 3 p.m. Friday.

‘‘It was a good measure stick as to where we were,” Pratley said. ‘‘We got three straight, we felt pretty good about ourselves and I’m real proud of the kids. They responded, they played hard and some days you’re just up against it.”

Lackey grabbed the game’s first points midway through the second quarter. A fumbled snap on a Leonardtown punt, recovered by the hosts, gave Lackey the ball on the Raiders 15-yard line.

Junior quarterback Malcolm Willis kept the drive alive by getting inside the 1 on fourth and inches from just outside the 5. Willis couldn’t get in on a quarterback sneak on first down, but, on second down, junior tailback Emmanuel Osuchuckwu plunged in to put the Chargers on top.

Lackey received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after the score, so it had to attempt the extra point from the 18 and it failed. The Chargers led 6-0 with 5 minutes 23 seconds left until halftime.

Hebb led the Raiders on the next drive, taking a pitch from Julian on third and eight and running 53 yards down the right sideline to the Lackey 12. The Chargers recovered a fumble on fourth and inches from just outside the 2 and went to halftime up 6-0.

‘‘We just didn’t secure the ball well,” Pratley said. ‘‘It was really muddy and tough to get some footing out here, a lot of slipping and sliding. That’s no excuse, though, we didn’t come to play like we should’ve.”

Johnson’s 43-yard run keyed a nine-play drive to start the second half, but it was halted as Leonardtown recovered a fumble at the 7.

‘‘A lot of players bobbled the ball a little bit, so we’re going to have to go back to the drawing board,” Johnson said.

Lackey quickly got the ball back after the Raiders punted. Johnson capped a five-play, 41-yard drive by powering his way six yards up the middle and into the end zone. Willis’ pass to junior wide receiver Tony Waugh completed the two-point conversion and the Chargers led 14-0 with 3:27 left in the third.

With the time and score not on Leonardtown’s side in the fourth quarter, the Raiders went for it on fourth down twice. On fourth and nine from the Lackey 47, Julian’s pass fell into Brown’s hands and he went the distance.

On the next drive, Julian was involved in all five plays that led to Leonardtown’s only points — completing a pass and running the next four for 64 yards, including a 60-yard scamper down the left sideline. In his final home game, he went in from one yard out to break up the shutout with 3:40 left in regulation.

‘‘Leonardtown’s a very good team, a very physical team,” Lamb said. ‘‘Except for that one letdown there at the end, I thought the defense played pretty well.”

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