By DON EDEN
Niles Daily Star

Dedicating a new sports complex Friday night was special for Brandywine faithful as a full house came to support the football team against winless Lawrence from last year.

An overtime victory by the visitors was the final result as the Bobcats were defeated 14-8.

Tiger senior Anthony Ramirez though, thought the big crowd came to see him as the 5-11, 180 pound running back carried the pigskin 26 times for 106 yards including the two-point conversion in the first half as the Bobcats failed to convert a first down until the final drive of the second quarter.

“Anthony worked hard all off season and will be a workhorse for us,” stated Lawrence coach Aaron Amthor. “It was real simple all summer and the fire burned inside their guts by just telling them 0-9 and we got beat 54-12 to this team a year ago.”

Brandywine escaped being scored on in the first quarter as the defense stepped up on two fourth down attempts with the second being a stop by senior Derek Nichols at the 10-yard line. The Bobcat defenders also had to thwart drives which started after a fumble and interception by the struggling offense.

Senior quarterback R.J. Jarka scored on a fourth and two from the seven for Lawrence with a sweep to the right with 5:02 on the scoreboard in the second quarter with Ramirez going off tackle on the conversion.

“This is a new system and some of the kids took this game lightly,” said first-year Brandywine coach Mike Nate. “We are not a well-conditioned football team right now and it is on me to get these kids to work a lot harder at practice.”

The Bobcats stopped Ramirez after an early 30-yard cutback scamper in the second half and junior Dustin Sater became the thoroughbred carrying the pigskin with 16 totes for 75 yards in the second half.

Sater scored on a 5-yard run with just over a minute remaining in the third stanza after Brandywine caused an offsides on a fourth and four with a change in sequence by junior quarterback Stone Hadley. Hadley found classmate Joseph Godfrey with a pass on the successful points after on a bootleg pass.

“Brandywine is a good football team and made some great adjustments and they have some key kids that are hard to shut down,” explained Amthor. “Defense is tackling and playing assignments and whoever we play will be bigger than us so we just need to be perfect in technique.”

Neither team could muster a drive in the final stanza so the contest went into overtime to decide the victor.

Brandywine got possession of the ball first and after a 3-yard dive by Sater, Hadley tried the bootleg again but instead of success threw the ball while being dragged down and was called for intentional grounding.

Ramirez then ended how he started and after three carries Lawrence was going home victorious.

“These kids stepped up when they had to and very happy for them,” proudly concluded Amthor.

Lawrence also led in first downs (12-9) and penalties (43-35), but Hadley sent four punts for 140 yards (35 yard average) compared to 2-68 (34.0) for senior Ethan Kubiszak.

“Our bazooka (bootleg) play in overtime worked well during the game, but their outside linebacker made a great play,” noted Nate. “We had a nice crowd and it is disappointing that we came up short, but I am proud of the kids in a lot of ways.”

Ramirez finished the game with 179 yards on 38 carries with Sater leading the Bobcats with 117 total yards on 23 attempts. Jarka was 3-of-11 for 68 yards with all his completions in the first half going to Kubiszak and Hadley’s two completions went to Godfrey for 15 yards before his conversion grab.

Lawrence 0 8 0 0 6 – 14
Brandywine 0 0 8 0 0 – 6
L  – R.J. Jarka 7 run (Anthony Ramirez run)
B –  Dustin Sater 5 run (Stone Hadley pass to Joseph Godfrey)
L – Ramirez 4 run