By By MARK ANDERSON / Niles Daily Star
NILES - Into every life a little rain must fall.
That certainly applies to the Brandywine Bobcats, whose opening season varsity football game Friday versus the Lawrence Tigers - a bruising battle on a field dampened by rain during the second half - resulted in a 25-0 loss.
Things went south for the Bobcats at the start of the game, when Lawrence's Marcus Williams returned the kickoff 68 yards for a touchdown. The point after made it 7-0 for Lawrence at the first quarter's conclusion.
Even getting into enemy territory was a challenge for the Bobcats as the Tigers' irrepressible tackles stormed Brandywine quarterback Jeff VanLaere on a fairly consistent basis, at times making it tough for the Bobcats to breach the 50-yard line.
Still, the Bobcats fought hard, chalking up 85 total rushing yards, with 14 passes resulting in another 77 yards. The Tigers, with just three passes for 17 yards, kept the ball on the ground with 173 yards rushing. Lawrence Senior Joshua Beeching tallied 89 of those rushing yards.
Brandywine's most promising effort to post some points came in the fourth quarter. Brian Westveer had taken over as quarterback and hurled an incomplete pass to 6-6 Senior Brett Shoemaker, which made it third down with 10 yards to go. Westveer then evaded a sack and lofted a lengthy pass to senior Zach Bennett, resulting in a first down on Lawrence's 18-yard line.
The next pass was touchdown-bound but glanced off Bennett's fingertips. A fumble that followed was recovered by Brandywine, but on third down with 25 yards to go, the Tiger's Dustin Brady intercepted Westveer's next pass, sealing the shutout for Lawrence.
Brandywine also got close to the goal line in the first period when Shoemaker snared a Lawrence fumble, which was followed by a successful pass by VanLaere to put the Bobcats at first-and-goal. But the Tiger defense held the line, and the first quarter ended with the Bobcats at third-and-goal. Brandywine switched sides of the field, but a fourth-down attempt to tally points saw VanLaere get sacked and the Tigers took over on downs.
Brandywine running back Alan Schoff, a 5-6 185-pound senior, forged ahead to gather 44 of his team's total rushing yards, including a 19-yard blast in the third quarter. Brandywine's 85 rushing yards were gained with 29 rushes. On defense, Brandywine's Matt Duckett, one of four sophomores on the team, had five solo tackles.
Bobcat Coach Terry Boor, a longtime Brandywine defensive coordinator, assumed his first-ever head coach post this year, at a time when only three varsity players from last year have returned for the 2004-05 year. Many of Borr's players are new to varsity football, while several are new to football itself.
Selge Field, where new bleachers were used for the first time at Friday's game, will be the scene of a Thursday double-header for the Bobcats. Their pre-Labor Day game will include both junior varsity and varsity games that night against Centreville.