LAWRENCE — Brandywine’s youthful football team (16 sophomores and 13 freshmen) showed its belonged on the varsity level with a 28-6 conquest of host Lawrence to begin the 2011 football campaign.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell would not have liked the Bobcat first two scores as junior Pierce Gleason rambled 75 yards up the middle on the opening kick-off and then with two minutes left in the first quarter picked up a rolling kick-off  and ran 82 yards after reversing the field for another touchdown.

“The kick-off return team deserves a lot of credit for the win as they started us off quick with those returns,” said Brandywine coach Mike Nate. “I used to be a special teams coach and worked quite a bit on that in practice.”

In between Gleason’s scores, the Tigers manueverd a 12-play drive with 5-11, 170-pound with senior quarterback Josh Gendron either running or passing on the first nine plays before junior Saivador Rocha reaped the reward of six points by going off tackle to cross the goal line.

A couple of fumbles hampered the Bobcats with a lost possession by both punt returners trying to catch the same punt nearly cost them.

Lawrence did not capitalize on its good fortune as twice they were stopped in the red zone after failed fourth down attempts.

“Offensively, we moved the ball, but couldn’t get past the 30-yard line and the returns put us in the wrong direction right away,” commented Lawrence coach Cody Caswell.

Junior Courtlan Gordon reached pay dirt midway through the middle stanza with an 8-yard run up the middle after a couple of penalties by Lawrence kept the drive alive including a masterful fourth and four count that a trio of Tigers jumped offside on.

That was the first scoring drive led by freshman quarterback Andrew Duckett, who completed his only pass to senior Austin Searles for 30 yards even though the Bobcat receiver was interfered with on the play.

The halftime score was 20-6 as Gordon was the only successful conversion recipient. He had 48 yards on nine carries.

Gendron led the Tigers to 141 total yards, which was 30 more than Brandywine at intermission with 66 yards on 15 totes and was 5-of-12 passing for 63 additional markers.

“Gendron is very good and we were concerned about him all week,” noted Nate. “It was a total team effort as we showed guts on stopping them on every fourth-down play.”

Brandywine ran the ball on every play in the second half with 28 carries for 140 yards with Gordon gaining 78 markers on a baker’s dozen worth of totes.

The only touchdown occurred with 23.7 seconds left in the third quarter when Bobcat junior Chanc Ravish ran up the middle from a yard out and then Duckett found senior Mykal Toxopous in the back of the end zone for two additional points to close the scoring.

Gendron ran for 79 yards on seven carries in the third quarter, but an interception near the goal line by Gleason early in the stanza sent away Lawrence’s hopes for a comeback. He finished with 145 rushing yards on 27 carries and had 115 additional passing markers for the contest.

“We count on him quite a bit and we have a play for him called dart that he does what he wants,” concluded Caswell. “Brandywine played hard, very hard, but our goal is to get better every week with such a young (four seniors) team.”

Gordon was the leading Bobcat rusher with 126 yards on 21 carries with Ravish finishing with 40 more markers on the ground.

“We are happy with the first game by getting a win, but we have some things to shore up as you usually can’t win with three lost fumbles,” stated Nate.  “Our discipline and attitude is good with this team which is why we are 1-0.”

Brandywine 14 6  8 0 — 28

Lawrence 6 0 0 0 — 6

B – Pierce Gleason 75 yard kick-off return (Courtlan Gordon run)

L – Salvador Rocha 5-yard run (pass failed)

B – Gleason 82 yard kick-off return (pass failed)

B – Gordon 8-yard run (pass failed)

B – Chanc Ravish one-yard run (Andrew Duckett pass to Mychal Toxopous