Rally for injured teammate falls short
Neumann-Goretti holds off Patriots’ charge
RADNOR » Archbishop Carroll players watched helplessly for 20 minutes as teammate Marvens Joseph agonized in pain Saturday afternoon at Joe McNichol Stadium.
THE SCORE
Archbishop Carroll 28, Neumann-Goretti 21
Up next for Archbishop Carroll: The Patriots travel to Pennsbury Friday night
The situation was dire. An ambulance was called to transport Joseph to a nearby hospital following a devastating leg injury.
Following this horrifying experience, the Patriots had to gather themselves and continue.
With Joseph at the front of their minds, the Patriots showed their true mettle and gutted through three more quarters of a Catholic League Class 3A contest with Neumann-Goretti.
Although the Patriots trailed by as many as 22 points in the fourth quarter, they almost pulled a comeback for the ages against the Saints, who despite playing their first game in 2020, are probably one of the top 3A programs in Pennsylvania.
It was Carroll’s senior class that led the charge. Senior Nick Lamey, a throwback player who’d fit in nicely on those McNichol teams of the 1970s, engineered a pair of scoring drive in the fourth quarter to get the Patriots within striking distance, but the uber-talented Saints were able to fend off a collapse and walk away with a 2821 victory. Neumann-Goretti is the District 12 representative in the Class 3A tournament
Lamey and the Patriots gave it their best try. Thanks to strong senior leadership, they made the game interesting and gave the Saints a real scare in the fourth quarter.
“Losing one of our starting cornerbacks with Marvens going down early, it gave us a little bit of motivation, even though we were down early in the game,” said Lamey, who completed 16 of 36 passing attempts for 215 yards and three TDs. “We tried to play for our brother, you know, and step up and fill his shoes. ... We knew we had to get our young guys back involved, to make sure their head was in the game. You know, it’s shocking. Seeing that injury was very devastating, especially when it’s one of our brothers. So, getting the young guys — staying engaged in the game and to just make sure everybody’s motivated to keep playing because there’s always another play, another quarter that we have to get to.”
On fou r t h-a nd-lon g , with the Patriots trailing 28-6, Lamey threw a Hail Mary in the general vicinity of Malachi Hansen. Two N-G defensive backs tipped the ball in the air, but Hansen came down with it and sprinted to the end zone for a 57-yard touchdown. Carroll’s defense found an extra gear. Defensive end Keenan Fortenberry sacked N-G quarterback Marqui Adams to force a three-and-out.
A f ter a Saints punt, Lamey connnected on three straight passes to Brennan Robinson and Darryl Simpson, covering 40 yards. The Saints didn’t help their cause, either, routinely getting penalized on defense to extend Carroll’s drives. On secondand-goal from the 20-yard line, Lamey threw a jump ball in the end zone to the 6-4, 230-pound Simpson, who hauled in the catch for a touchdown. The Saints’ once comfortable lead was trimmed to seven points with 3:26 to go.
“I feel like we came out strong in the second half and we were able to keep pushing,” Lamey sa id. “Coming back from a loss like that to one of our brothers is not easy, but you just got to keep moving the wheels.”
Lamey and the Carroll offense got the ball again with less than 90 seconds to play, but the Saints forced a turnover on downs. When N-G’s defense wasn’t sleeping in pass coverage, or hurting itself with uneccessary penalties, it played very fast and lethal. Lamey was sacked eight times and was hurried early and often. Carroll’s ground game was nonexistent — the team’s leading rusher, Victor Taylor, had zero yards on two carries. Carroll’s running game was held to negative-63 yards.
Defensive end/tight end Solo Bamabara, a former Cardinal O’Hara standout who transferred to N-G in the spring, had a sack, an interception, a forced fumble and a 57-yard touchdown catch.
The Patriots scored first when Lamey found Robinson wide open for a 20yard touchdown. The Saints needed only two offensive plays to tie the score. Jayden Sumpter broke off a 13-yard run and then the Saints converted a two-point play to put them ahead for good with two minutes left in the first quarter.
Carroll will close the season with a few nonleague games — including a PCL non-classification showdown with rival Cardinal O’Hara. Next week the Patriots look to bounce back when they travel to Pennsbury.
“I told the guys that I was proud as heck for their effort and the way they battled today,” Carroll coach Kyle Detweiler said. “Losing a teammate in that fashion, it can go one of two ways. You can shell up, feel sorry for ourselves or we can get the band back together, go out there and fight like heck and try to play in his honor and make sure we are doing everything that he would want us to do without him. So, I was proud of the way we responded at the end, but it shouldn’t have gotten to the spread that it did. I was proud of the way we battled back, for sure, and for all four quarters we gave it all we could.”