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N. Lebanon falls to Lancaster Catholic in finale, 35-7


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FREDERICKSBURG - Northern Lebanon's football season came to an end with a 35-7 loss to Lancaster Catholic on Friday night.

The Vikings (4-6, 3-3 Section 3) were denied a .500 season, mostly due to the performance of Lancaster Catholic quarterback Brian Downey, who was 15-for-21 for 234 yards and two touchdowns, to go along with 54 rushing yards and two more scores on the ground. Defensively, Downey intercepted two passes.

“He's a great athlete,” Northern Lebanon coach Roy Wall said. “We were just going to play like we have all year, and he made some nice plays and some receivers got open.”

However, Michigan Daub intercepted a Downey pass in the second quarter, and that was the one time that it appeared that the Vikings would get back in the game. The Crusaders (7-3, 5-1), were up 7-0 when Daub picked off the pass at the Northern Lebanon 20, returning it 50 yards before Downey tackled him.

Three runs netted zero yards. On fourth-and-10 from the 30, Daub threw into the end zone, where Downey knocked the pass down.

“Turnovers are opportunities, and we didn't cash in,” said Wall, whose team had two takeaways in Lancaster Catholic territory without getting any points off of them.

Lancaster Catholic got the ball back with 1:10 to go, and drove 70 yards in four plays to take a 14-0 lead into halftime. C.J. Zimmerman ran the ball in from two yards out for the touchdown.

That quick drive was the exception for the Crusaders, who finished the season as co-Lancaster-Lebanon Section 3 champions with Annville-Cleona. Lancaster Catholic opened the scoring with a 12-play, 83-yard drive. Downey's 3-yard touchdown run capped off the drive that took 5:42 off the clock in the second quarter.

Then, on the first possession of the third quarter, the Crusaders ran 6:42 off the clock with a 14-play, 68-yard drive. Downey scored his second touchdown with a 1-yard run.

Early in the fourth quarter, Lancaster Catholic put the game away with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Downey to Jordan Scott, making the lead 28-0 just 20 seconds into the final period.

Northern Lebanon got on to the scoreboard on its next possession when Stevie Herb caught a deflected pass from Daub for a 4-yard touchdown, getting within 28-7 with 9:34 to play. The score was set up by a 43-yard pass from Daub to Christian Trader.

The Vikings tried for an onside kick, but Lancaster Catholic recovered it. Six plays later, Downey connected with Malkam Lawrence for a 14-yard touchdown pass for the game's final score with 6:43 left.

Although the win did earn Lancaster Catholic a share of the LL 3 title, wins by Bermudian Springs and Littlestown kept the Crusaders out of the District 3 Class 3A playoffs.

Daub finished 6-for-17 with two interceptions and a touchdown for 58 yards. Herb led the Vikings in rushing with 46 yards on 17 carries.

Daub, Herb and Trader are all underclassmen, but Northern Lebanon had nine seniors who played their final game.

“This senior class was very successful,” Wall said. “They had two straight (L-L 3) championships, and up until tonight, we were 11 points from being in contention.”

Scott caught five passes for 78 yards. Andrew Milkos pulled in four passes for 80 yards. Lawrence led Lancaster Catholic in rushing with 91 yards on 13 carries.

Lancaster Catholic 35, Northern Lebanon 7

Lanc. Cath. _ 0 _ 14 _ 7 _ 14 _ — _ 35  

N. Lebanon _ 0 _ 0 _ 0 _ 7 _ — _ 7  

Second Quarter

LC — Bryan Downey 5 run (Connor Engle kick), 7:25

LC — C.J. Zimmerman 2 run (Engle kick), 0:17

Third Quarter

LC — Downey 1 run (Engle kick), 5:18

Fourth Quarter

LC — Jordan Scott 15 pass from Downed (Engle kick), 11:40

NL — Stevie Herb 4 pass from Micigan Daub (Daub kick), 9:34

Team Statistics

_ LC _ NL

First downs _ 19 _ 11

Rushes-yards _ 39-186 _ 29-102

Passing _ 15-21-1 _ 6-17-2

Passing yards _ 234 _ 58

Total yards _ 420 _ 160

Punts _ 3-37.0 _ 4-38.8

Fumbles-lost _ 1-1 _ 1-0

Penalties-yards _ 2-15 _ 4-20

Individual Statistics

Rushing — LC: Malkam Lawrence 13-91, Bryan Downey 15-56, Jordan Scott 5-17, C.J. Zimmerman 2-8, David Cook 2-13, Nathan Dell Isola 2-1; NL: Stevie Herb 17-46, Michigan Daub 8-30, Noah Smith 4-26.  

Passing — LC: Bryan Downey 15-21-1, 234 yards; NL: Michigan Daub 6-17-2, 58 yards.

Receiving — LC: Jordan Scott 5-78, Andrew Milkos 4-80, Andrew Kirchner 3-47, Malkam Lawrence 3-29; NL: Christian Trader 1-43, Stevie Herb 1-4, Noah Smith 1-1, Caleb Fischer 1-4, Will Thompson 1-5, Tyler Shearer 1-1.

Interceptions — LC: Brian Downey 2; NL: Michigan Daub 1.

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