Lang sparks St. Francis to victory over Burlington Central

It was a long night literally and figuratively for the Burlington Central Rockets Friday on Rocket Hill.

Their nonconference game against St. Francis started 75 minutes late due to a long running sophomore game and the teams endured a weather delay.

The Spartans then handed the Rockets their second defeat of the season, 35-7.

Central capitalized on a St. Francis miscue to take the lead, 7-0 late in the first quarter. Due to a bad snap, the Spartan punter was tackled by the Rockets' Matthew Muetteerties at St. Francis' 23-yard line. Four plays later, Jake Lenschow scampered 7 yards for the score.

Play was halted for 45 minutes due to lightening with 1:46 left in the first quarter.

When the game resumed, the Spartans turned the tables on the Rockets and recovered a bad punt snap on a Rockets' 12-yard line. On third-and-goal from Central's 9-yard line, Spartan quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse found Zach Randel all alone in the end zone for a TD strike to tie the game 7-7 with 1:44 left in the half.

The Rockets (0-2) were unable to take advantage of 2 interceptions in the first 2 quarters. Both Mark Ganziano and Layn Reynolds picked off Rittenhouse passes but Central ended the resulting drives with punts.

Joe Lang put the Spartans up 21-7 in the third quarter. First, he picked off a Lenschow pass and returned it 15 yards for the TD. The Rockets' next drive ended with a punt that Lang returned 65 yards for the Spartans' third touchdown.

Henry Plamondon widened the Spartans' lead with 9:50 left in the game to 28-7 on a 13-yard run into the end zone.

Backup quarterback Michael Baff finished the scoring for St. Francis (2-0) on a 5-yard keeper.