By By DAN WEISS / Niles Daily Star
LAWRENCE -- Overtime in football comes down to who can score and who can't, but Brandywine's 20-14 season-opening overtime loss to Lawrence Thursday night should have never even come to overtime, according to Brandywine coach Jim Myers.
Brandywine had the first possession of overtime and Evan Smith's pass on third down was intercepted by Lawrence's Mark Williams.
Williams then became the hero of the game when he scored the winning touchdown on fourth-and-three on the Tigers' possession.
Myers was pleased with the defensive effort on Lawrence's overtime possession. Two carries by fullback Billy Beeching moved the ball to the two-yard line and set up Williams' winning carry.
Myers felt the game should have been decided way before it came down to overtime.
After holding Lawton to negative yardage on a possession that started at the five-yard line late in the third quarter, Brandywine started a drive at the Lawrence 30-yard line.
The Bobcats moved the ball well as the quarter ended and picked up the momentum to start the fourth quarter. A two-yard keeper by Smith gave Brandywine a first-and-goal at the eight-yard line.
Lawrence, however, stuffed the Bobcats four times and took over on downs at the one-yard line.
Neither team managed much offense in the second half, after both covered a good amount of ground in the first half.
Brandywine struck first as Billy Syrette took the opening kickoff and returned it to the Lawrence 39. Two plays later Smith broke free for a 34-yard touchdown run.
Lawrence answered when quarterback Chris Ledesma broke free for a 63-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter.
On the ensuing possession, Syrette scored on a 38-yard sprint to regain a 14-7 lead.
The Tigers put together a 62-yard drive and scored on Williams' three-yard burst to tie the game at 14-14, which remained the score at halftime.
Combined, the two teams managed 10 yards of offense in the third quarter and neither scored.
The ball started moving a bit more in the fourth quarter but still neither squad could find the end zone or even manage a field goal.
Garrett Semrinec kicked two extra points for Brandywine, as did Pedro Almeida for Lawrence.
The Bobcats finished with a total of 181 yards on offense.
Lawrence picked up a total of 252 yards on offense.
The Bobcats travel to Centreville next Friday night for its second, and last, non-conference game of the season, starting at 7 p.m.