FAIRFIELD — Throughout Friday night, the Lawrence High School football team had highlight-reel plays in all three phases of the game. To the Bulldogs, the 45-22 win over Mt. Blue proved their hard work is paying off. It also proved a point, senior captain Cole Robinson said.
“We’re ready to play and we can play with the best,” Robinson said.
The Bulldogs (2-0) overcame an early seven-point deficit and pulled away from the Cougars (1-1) in the second and third quarters. Sophomore Mitchell Cushing scored two of his four touchdowns in the second quarter, helping Lawrence build a 28-14 halftime lead.
“We needed to have all parts, all aspects of it. We talked about the importance of everyone being ready this week. They have some dangerous skill players,” Lawrence coach John Hersom said. “Overall, I think we answered when we needed to.”
The big play of the first half came in the final minute of the second quarter, when Lawrence’s Cody Martin intercepted a Ryan Pratt pass and returned it 54 yards to the Mt. Blue one. On the next play, Cushing (72 yards on 16 carries) scored, giving the Bulldogs a two-touchdown lead with 13.5 seconds left in the half.
Lawrence pushed the lead to 31-14 on Chad Martin’s 28-yard field goal early in the third quarter, and after forcing Mt. Blue to punt, Walker Thomas scored on a 58-yard punt return to make it 38-14.
Aside from two big touchdown runs in the first quarter, first a 39-yard run by Pratt followed by an 80-yard run by JT Williams, Lawrence did a nice job containing Mt. Blue’s strong offense. Williams gained 162 yards on 15 carries, but the Bulldogs forced four turnovers. Cole Robinson had two second half interceptions, and the Bulldogs recovered a fumble at their own 2-yard line in the third quarter.
“This week in practice, we worked on tackling. That was out goal, right there. We definitely came out and showed it,” Robinson said. “In the beginning, we had to work on some stuff. We had to read the guards better as linebackers. After that, we took it to them.”
Lawrence opened the scoring on a 2-yard run by Cushing midway through the first quarter. After Mt. Blue took the lead, Cushing scored on a 39-yard run with 6:47 left in the second to tie the game at 14-all.
Lawrence quarterback Cody Martin hit tight end Seth Powers (six catches for 186 yards) for a 21-yard touchdown pass that gave Lawrence the lead for good.
Williams scored on a 29-yard run in the third quarter to cut Lawrence’s lead to 38-22, and Cushing’s 5-yard run early in the fourth closed the scoring.
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM
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