By Chris Paul
The Londonderry High School Football team chalked up another notch in the win column at home on Friday night with a convincing 29-13 over Bishop Guertin.
The Cardinals started the season with two wins and were undefeated headed into the game, but the LHS squad was able to hand them their first defeat of the season.
The Lancers blitzed the Cards early and often keeping their opponents out of the end zone until the final minutes of the game.
Londonderry scored in each of the four quarters with points tallied from three different sources.
After the LHS defense forced a three-and-out on the Cards to start the first quarter, the home crew marched down the field for their first points of the game with a 17-yard run by Andrew Kullman to the left side of the line. Lancer kicker Dylan Wrisley tacked on the extra point for a 7-0 lead at 5:43.
By the second quarter, BG used up all their time-outs in the half at nine minutes, and was unable to convert a fourth down from the Lancer 26-yard line.
The Lancers took control of the ball to end the second quarter with a drive that ended with Aidan Washington passing complete to Jake Schena for a 37-yard touchdown with 30-seconds left in the half. A two-point conversion pass by Washington to Colby Ramshaw ended the period 15-0.
The Lancers struggled on their first series in the second half, forced to punt, and giving BG good field position.
In that drive, the Cards made it to the LHS 22, where they attempted an unsuccessful fourth down with six yards to go.
After the Lancer took over on downs, they marched to their own 42, where Jake Schena ran up the middle for a 58-yard touchdown with four seconds left in the third quarter. Wrisley’s point after kick was good for the 22-0 Lancer lead.
Bishop Guertin was finally able to put some much-needed points on the board nine minutes into the fourth quarter, making the score 22-6.
Lancer QB Washington answered with a five-yard run for six points of his own, five minutes later, for the final points of the game for Londonderry making it 29-6.
The Cardinals were able to add a kick-off return for a touchdown at the four-minute mark and with an extra-point the game ended at 29-13.
Londonderry managed 315 offensive yards in the game and BG was half of that at 150.
Washington was the top rusher with 113-yards and Schena wound up with 64.
Schena also had 37 receiving yards with Trevor Weinmann getting 22 to lead the LHS squad.
The third straight victory put Londonderry at 3-0 headed into their biggest contest of the season. Next week the lancers will play in the annual Mack Plaque game in Derry against Pinkerton Academy who is also boasting an undefeated season so far.
Last year, LHS beat PA 23-14 just before Pinkerton ended their season due to COVID-19.