September 30, 2007
Re: Piedmont gets 2nd consecutive win with new A-11 offense and tough defense
On Friday night September 28th, 2007 at Witter Field in Piedmont, in a Bay Shore Athletic League (BSAL) opener, the Piedmont Highlanders football team won their second game in a row, defeating St. Mary’s High 21 – 14. The Highlanders now stand 2-2 overall, and 1-0 in league play. The Highlanders new A-11 offense featuring eleven potentially eligible receivers and two quarterbacks in shotgun continued its growth, as they rolled up 335 total yards of offense against a solid Panthers squad.
Primary Highlanders quarterback, Jeremy George led the attack, finishing with 17 completes on 31 attempts, with two touchdowns and one interception – his first of the year. The second Highlanders quarterback, Ryan Lipkin, was a steady 4 for 7, for 74 yards. On the night, Piedmont passed for 243 yards, and rushed for 101 yards on 25 carries, with George leading the way with 11 rushes for 60 yards.
“It’s good to see our offense mature each week,” said Piedmont Head Coach Kurt Bryan, “but our defense was tough against St. Mary’s and they dictated the tempo throughout most of the night.”
Piedmont’s defense held St. Mary’s to 176 total yards, and if not for a fluke fumble on an attempted punt by Piedmont, easily would have held the Panthers to only 7 points.
To open the game Piedmont’s A-11 offense came out firing and marched down the field to take a 7 – 0 lead, when George found wide receiver Joey Holland in the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown pass. St. Mary’s answered by putting together a nice drive culminating with a 13-yard touchdown pass from their quarterback Rivera, to Shields.
However, the Highlanders offense was just warming up, as they built a 21 – 7 halftime lead by marching up and down the field and eating up huge amounts of time – thereby allowing the Piedmont defense to stay fresh. “It’s one of the benefits about our new system.” Said Bryan, “When the execution of our A-11 offense is good, our opponents defense must pursue our guys all over the field and they get fatigued. Respectfully to St. Mary’; it was self-evident midway through the 2nd quarter that their defense was tired.”
The Highlanders took the lead again 14 – 7 after a long drive, when George scampered 13-yards up the middle for a touchdown. Piedmont got the ball back after a St. Mary’s punt and they marched down the field on a 16 – play drive. George hit Lipkin for a 4 yard touchdown pass to make the score 21 – 7 just before halftime. Bryan explains, “We’re getting there, in the first half we played very well but we committed too many penalties in the 2nd half, and that cost us points and lots of yards. We need to sharpen up and execute even better for a full game.”
Piedmont hosts Oakland High at Witter Field in Piedmont on Friday, October 5th, at 7:00PM.
