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RUDDER FOOTBALL TEAM FIGHTS TO STAY WITH NO. 8 LAMAR CONSOLIDATED BUT LOSES 45-16

Rudder football team fights to stay with No. 8 Lamar Consolidated but loses 45-16

RICHARD CROOME

The Eagle | 10/5/2019

PHOTO CREDIT: Sam Craft

Turnovers put a damper on Rudder’s penchant for second-half comebacks as No. 8 Lamar Consolidated defeated the Rangers 45-16 at Merrill Green Stadium in District 10-5A Division II football action Friday.

The Rangers (3-2, 1-1) closed to within 17-16 on their first drive of the second half, but three turnovers helped lead to 28 unanswered points by the Mustangs (5-0, 2-0).

The Rangers, who rallied from second-half, double-digit deficits in their three wins, trailed 17-10 at halftime and pulled to within a point when quarterback EJ Ezar scampered into the end zone from 3 yards just 2 minutes, 11 seconds into the third quarter. The big play of the drive was a 42-yard screen pass from Ezar to James Ayers. An 11-yard penalty was tagged onto the play, putting Rudder at the Mustangs’ 11-yard line. A missed extra-point attempt on a hurried kick after a high snap kept the Rangers from tying the game.

Rudder stopped Lamar Consolidated on the ensuing drive, but Keithron Lee attempted to pick up the punt on a bounce and fumbled it at the Ranger 15-yard line. Three plays later, Stanley Tucker ran in untouched from the 5 to put the Mustangs up 24-16.

The Rangers got good field position on the ensuing kickoff, but three plays later, a blitzing CJ Maduka caused Ezar to fumble just before his arm started forward on a pass attempt, and defensive tackle Michael Cobbin recovered the ball for Lamar Consolidated at the Mustang 32.

“The turnovers hurt. They did,” Rudder coach Eric Ezar said. “I told Keithron that he’s been one of our best players this year, and he’s just trying to make something happen, and it bounced wrong. You can’t fault him for that. I was pretty mad about the arm going forward [ruling], but it what it is.”

Lamar Consolidated made Rudder pay, scoring on a 26-yard pass from BJ Harris to Cameron Dotson for a 31-16 lead.

“We’ve had some great comebacks, and things just didn’t work out the right way today,” Eric Ezar said. “We took the No. 8 team in the state and put them on the ropes there for awhile, but they are the No. 8 school for a reason.”

With the Rangers trying everything to get back into the game, including going for it on a fourth-and-28, the Mustangs scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns on short fields to put away the game for good. Taye McWilliams scored on a 7-yard run, and Daniel Blackmore scored on a 3-yard run one play after Darrin Boston intercepted a Rudder pass EJ Ezar was forced to throw from his own end zone on a third-and-long play.

Rudder fell behind early on a 46-yard TD pass from Harris to McWilliams and a 1-yard TD run by Blackmore.

The Rangers stayed close on the rarest of special teams plays.

On the final play of the first quarter, Lamar Consolidated punted from its 21. The ball came off the side of the punter’s foot toward the Rudder bench and bounced backward to the 12. With the Mustang players moving away from the ball and the Ranger coaches screaming to their players to pick it up, Tre McLenton obliged and returned it 12 yards for a touchdown.

“That was some of the luck we did have,” Eric Ezar said. “It was nice, very good. We were telling our guys to pick it up, because they had never seen that, where the ball spun back and [the opponents] got away from it.”

The teams traded 23-yard field goals, with the Mustangs’ Jose Ortiz making his kick midway through the second quarter and Kristoffer Kindt matching it with 1:25 remaining in the first half to close Rudder’s gap to 17-10.

Rudder’s defense held the district’s leading rusher, McWilliams, to 98 yards on 17 carries. He came into the game averaging better than 13 yards a carry and 150 a game. Twice defensive back Quincy Daniels tackled McWilliams for losses of at least 5 yards.

“Our defense played great tonight, and I’m just down a little bit that our offense didn’t play good, but they have a good defense,” Eric Ezar said. “They took Keithron away from us, and we weren’t able to handle it as well. We have to use our other weapons.”

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