Big plays, turnovers sink Maine West
Big offensive plays and turnovers were the difference for Urban Prep in a 30-24 victory over host Maine West in nonconference play Saturday afternoon.
Three of the four Urban Prep touchdowns came on plays of 50 yards or more. The Lions also recovered three fumbles and intercepted Maine West quarterback Matt Swanson twice — both coming in the fourth quarter as the Warriors were trying to rally for a winning score.
“We’ve got a lot of kids with a lot of heart,” Urban Prep coach Jeffery Freeman said. “These kids are our first graduating class, our first seniors. They came out here last year and took one on the chin, and they refused to come out here and take another one.”
Last season the Warriors won by a score of 57-20, and Urban Prep was determined to not allow a repeat.
Urban Prep senior running back Hassan Anderson opened the scoring with a 2-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. Anderson’s run capped a short drive, as the Lions recovered a Maine West fumble at the Warriors’ 11. A two-point conversion put Urban Prep up 8-0.
Maine West (0-1) answered on its next possession when senior running back Kevin Schlacks (8 carries, 48 yards) scored the first of his 2 touchdowns, and the Warriors converted their own 2-point conversion to even the score at 8.
From there, the big plays for the Lions offense started to roll. Urban Prep scored its other three touchdowns on one-play drives. Immediately after Schlacks first touchdown, Urban Prep (1-0) quarterback Nicolas Parks found receiver Orlando Ruiz down the right sideline for a 60-yard touchdown. On Urban Prep’s first offensive play of the second half, Anderson (14 carries, 87 yards) ripped off a 50-yard touchdown run.
“Our plan was to come out and make big plays early, and try to continue to make big plays,” Freeman said. “We want to make it exciting and make it a balanced attack so you won’t know where we are coming from.”
Fellow running back Lamar Tripplet followed up with a 72-yard touchdown run on the Lions’ very next offensive play. Tripplet’s run was his lone carry of the game.
“We can’t give up the big plays,” Maine West coach Chris Hare said. “We gave up two long passes, and they were getting the edge on us. That’s something we’ve obviously got to correct. Then, it’s taking care of the ball. Hats off to them. They won, but in all honesty, I don’t feel that they stopped us. We stopped ourselves.”
The five Maine West turnovers loom large, as they were only able to force one turnover from Urban Prep, which came when Jake Riportella intercepted Kevin Smith.
Maine West didn’t go quietly, though.
After Swanson scored on a 7-yard run to make the score 30-24 in the fourth quarter, Riportella recovered an onside kick with two minutes left to give Maine West a chance to take the lead. The drive ended when Brandon Robinson intercepted Swanson (10-for-27, 112 yards and 18 carries, 111 yards) with a minute to play.
The Warriors held on defense, though, and were able to get the ball back with 23 seconds left, but ran out of time before getting into the red zone.