Big Red Rally

One of the most exciting games in a yeaaarrrrrr.... OK, perhaps one week, took place Friday night as the Big Red made an 11 point comeback in the final 5 minutes of the 4th quarter.

Maplewood led the entire game until 4:38 was left in the 3rd quarter. The Panthers backup running back LaDarious Venlier had plenty of room to run behind the state's most coveted offensive lineman prospect James Stone. Venlier scored the game's first touchdown on Maplewood's opening drive from 37 yards out. The Big Red responded with an impressive drive of their own, capped off with a 17 yard touchdown pass from Luke Colbert to Fitz Lassing.

During MBA's first drive of the second quarter, Maplewood defensive lineman Jontez Vaughn recovered Fitz Lassing's fumble at the MBA 18 yard line setting up a 7 yard touchdown run for Denzel Jones. After Lassing's 66 yard punt, MBA responded once more with a 44 yard drive led by Luke Colbert and Fitz Lassing to tie the game with Tyler Franks' 2 yard touchdown run. At halftime the game was tied at 14-14.

At the 4:38 mark in the 3rd quarter the Big Red took their first lead of the night after Andrew Fletcher's 21 yard field goal, but this time the Panthers responded with a scoring drive of their own when LaDarious Vanlier scored his second touchdown of the night from 58 yards out. And guess what? MBA did not respond; the Panthers stopped Tyler Franks on 4th down at the MBA 46. The Panthers drove the ball down field once more to take an 11 point lead at the end of the 3rd quarter.

This is where it gets exciting. With just over 5 minutes left, the Big Red still trailing by 11, all of the sudden the Red begins to Roll. MBA wide receiver William Tanner, Fitz Lassing and Luke Colbert rediscovered their offense and cut the Panther's lead to 5 after Lassing scored on a 10 yard screen pass with 3:33 left to play but failed on the 2 point attempt. MBA had to recover the onside kick to even have a chance, and I bet you can guess what happened...they did, Tanner recovered! Once again Colbert, Tanner and Lassing drove downfield to take a 31-28 lead over Maplewood with only 2:18 left to play. Maplewood did not roll over, getting it into MBA territory before the Panthers were stopped on 4th and 12. From then on MBA lined up in the victory formation, and the students stormed the field.

The Big Red move to 2-0 on the season and Maplewood falls to 1-1. The Big Red takes on the State's #1 ranked team Ensworth at Tommy Owen Stadium, but this week's contest may be hard to top.