Guest Ranger83 Posted September 4, 2009 Report Posted September 4, 2009 Eagles fly by GCM Patriots 40-26 By Dave Rogers Published September 4, 2009 After being the hammer last week, the Patriots were the nail Thursday night. With workmanlike efficiency – and authority -- Pearland Dawson drove home a 40-26 loss on Goose Creek Memorial before a crowd of about 5,000 at Stallworth Stadium. Dawson took a 27-6 halftime lead and extended it to 40-6 midway through the third period, before the Pats scored on three TD passes in the final 16 minutes of play to make the score close. “We were playing a better team this week,†Memorial coach Bret Boyd said, alluding to last week’s 29-0 win over Pasadena High. “I’m proud of my guys for hanging in there and not giving up when we were down this week. This is the kind of a team where when you make a mistake, they’ll capitalize. “And they did a few times. “But we will learn from playing a team like this. Dawson scored on each of its first seven possessions except one – when quarterback Darian Lazard fumbled into the end zone. And the Eagles could have scored faster, as wide-open receivers dropped two probable touchdown passes and Lazard missed another wide-open receiver on another deep ball, all in the first half. The Patriots dropped a couple of would-be touchdown passes themselves. Memorial quarterback Cody Larson finished the game with four TD passes, three of them to Keithen Collins. That was a big departure from the start. The Pats ran only three plays in the first quarter and didn’t make a first down until their fourth possession. That was after they trailed 21-0, in the final five minutes of the half. By halftime, Lazard had passed for 168 yards and the Eagles had 304 total yards. The Patriots had 61 first-half yards. Of those, 47 yards came on their initial scoring drive, a 10-play drive set up by Pat Wood’s 33-yard kickoff return. Larson’s 15-yard scramble chalked up the first Pat first down and the quarterback hit 3 of 4 passes for 24 yards in the drive, including the payoff pitch to Collins from seven yards out with 1:48 left in the half. Larson finished the game with 12 completions on 21 attempts for 216 passing yards and led the team in rushing with 66 yards on six scampers. Collins caught seven passes for 136 yards. He had second-half TD receptions of 17 yards with 3:26 left in the third quarter and a 73-yarder with 23 seconds left in the game. Jared St. Julian scored on a 50-yard TD pass with 4:24 remaining that made it 40-19. Lazard finished with 15 completions in 19 attempts for 196 yards and two TDs, adding a team-high 98 yards and another score on eight carries. Eagle fullback Akeem Blackshire, who burned the Pats for three scores in last year’s 54-14 Dawson win, rushed 12 times for 92 yards and two touchdowns. The Eagles went 80 yards in 11 plays after Price Jacobs’ opening kickoff was downed in the end zone for a touchback. The big play was a 45-yard reception on which receiver Micah Tillotson stole the ball from Pat DB Charles Simpson. Blackshire scored from two yards out. Lazard fumbled away Dawson’s second possession, but the Eagles needed only one play to recover. Taking over at their 49-yard line after a Jacobs punt, they scored on a halfback pass from Marcus Vaughn to Piaget Gauthier, a 51-yard play. An interception by linebacker Lawrence Alanis set up Dawson’s third score, a 13-yard pass from Lazard to Xavier Brown. Lazard’s score, a one-yard sneak with 27 seconds left in the half, came a play after the quarterback broke for 38 yards and made it 27-6. Dawson needed five plays to cover 71 yards for its first second-half score, a three-yard Blackshire run. The Eagles wrapped up their scoring with 6:45 left in the third, on a 27-yard TD pass from Lazard to Vaughn.
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