Rebuilding Lions make a strong first impression
MARPLE >> It’s been a while since Cardinal O’Hara dominated the way it did Friday in a 36-0 romp over Dobbins Tech.
Heck, it’s been a while since the Lions opened a season with a victory.
This is the start B.J. Hogan prayed for as he rebuilds the culture seriesby-series, game-by-game.
“I thought our kids had good energy,” Hogan said. “The seniors, they won two games in three years. They went 0-8 as freshmen and 1-9 the last two years. We’re just trying to teach them how to win. Dobbins is a good team. They’re going to win games. For us it’s about O’Hara, not about whoever we play. And I think tonight we did a good job of that.”
Senior quarterback Tom O’Hara threw for an efficient 102 yards and touchdowns to Bob Siderio and Justin Santilla to spark the Lions, who began emptying the bench after taking a 36-0 lead on the first possession of the second half.
The Lions made a statement on their first offensive series of the game as they converted key fourth downs, the last one a threeyard run by Nick Kutufaris to open the scoring.
“The first quarter we wanted to come out fast but we didn’t play as fast as we wanted to,” O’Hara said. “The second quarter we fired on all cylinders. The O-line gave me a lot of protection and wore them down.
“They didn’t have a big roster so we just kind of pounded it and wore them down. It’s tough to come back when you’re playing that much. Almost every snap, their starters were playing.”
Four different Lions scored touchdowns and Kevin Calamita booted a 26-yard field goal and three PATs to build a 30-0 lead by the intermission.
Just 24 Mustangs made the trip and on a hot, muggy night and it showed. When Dobbins struggled on one side of the ball, it seemed to carry over to the other side.
Though coach Martin Baldwin used all of his timeouts in the first half to give his players a breather, the Mustangs wound up committing nine penalties for 45 yards in just the first two quarters. On the night they were flagged 14 times.
Moreover, two bad Mustangs long snaps deep in their own territory while in punt formation set the Lions up for a pair of touchdowns.
Kutufaris’ run capped a 62-yard march fueled by Chris Kirby, who hauled in a 14-yard pass from O’Hara.
After Calamita’s field goal, the Lions capitalized on the first of the faulty long snaps, O’Hara keeping the ball and scoring on a 3-yard run.
Myles Henderson then rolled in from three yards out to make it 23-0.
Siderio got in on a catch to complete first-half scoring.
On the first series of the third quarter, Santilla caught a 21-yard scoring pass from O’Hara to bring in the subs.
“I feel bad for them,” O’Hara said. “If I had to play as many snaps as they did, I don’t know if I could do what they did. They kept fighting. They were tough throughout the whole game. The second half, they were down, 36-0, and they 15yard the came out and were fighting all the way to the end.”
The best example of the Mustangs’ heart was sophomore Nyseer Colson, who played defensive back, split end and finally quarterback.
While fans were heading for the parking lot Colson kept scrambling and firing away, connecting with Walter Andino on a 43yard throw to the 20-yard line of O’Hara with 41.8 seconds left.
It was the deepest penetration of the evening for the Mustangs, who totaled 80 yards of offense. And it was just their second first down.
Dobbins got nothing tangible out of it when Colson was picked off by Derrick Patrick Jr. while for the end zone.
It was proof of one thing: There was no quit in Dobbins.
“Coach always says when you’re down, you get back up,” Colson said. “Keep fighting until the end. We’ve got a whole season left and we’re looking forward to playing it.”
The Lions know about getting knocked down, and getting back up. Home victories have been few and far between.
“This was our second win at home in three years,” O’Hara said. “It was great. We got a good student turnout. We want to get more people here. But it feels great to be here and get it done.” throwing