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Home » Football News

Harrison, Big Plays Too Much for Cougars

Harrison 42, Edgewood 28

Wildcats rally to knock off Cougars

By John Bombatch

Staff Writer

Saturday, September 20, 2008

TRENTON - Harrison had been known more for being a passing team, but with a pair of 100-yard backs, the Wildcats didn't need to put the ball in the air Friday at Edgewood's Kumler Field.

The visiting Wildcats, behind a 156-yard rushing performance by Brandon Fisher and a 169-yard night by teammate David Hayes, rumbled to a 42-28 win in a Fort Ancient Valley Conference crossover game.

Harrison trailed 21-7 at one point in the first half, but dominated the second half for the win. Edgewood coach Steve Channell said it was a matter of consistency.

"They just took it to us on the ground, and we couldn't get into any kind of a rhythm offensively," Channell said. "But the season's not over. We still have half the schedule ahead of us, and if we play well in our league games and win out, we can still get to the postseason."

It was all Hayes in Harrison's opening scoring drive of the second half. Hayes had runs of 16 and 4 yards, then took a pitch to the right, stopped, cut right and ran untouched down the right side for a 46-yard score to tie the game at 21-all.

Less than a minute later, the Cougars' Brandon Marcum was intercepted by Harrison's Andrew Tumlin, who ran the ball back 19 yards for a score.

Harrison continued to rule the third quarter, this time with a six-play, 65-yard drive that took advantage of an Edgewood dead-ball personal foul penalty. Hayes capped the drive by dragging three Cougars into the end zone with him for a 3-yard score. That made things 35-21, and the Wildcats were seemingly in command.

But Edgewood responded with yet another big play. Brandon Marcum found Xavier Fugate running right-to-left across the field and hit him for a 65-yard touchdown pass to pull the Cougars within seven points of the lead, 35-28.

Harrison took advantage of a failed fake punt play by Edgewood with about 10 minutes left in the game.

The Cougar punter attempted a pass to the right side, but the receiver's legs appeared taken out from under him before the play and the pass went incomplete.

The Wildcats responded with a seven-play, 45-yard drive to go up 42-28.

The big plays were plenty in the first half. The Cougars got things rolling with Justin Elder's 69-yard scoring run on Edgewood's first possession of the game and second play from scrimmage.

Harrison quarterback Randy Doss scrambled downfield for a 44-yard gain to set up the Wildcats' first score. Doss connected with senior tight end Justin Foley for a 9-yard strike with 2:45 left in the first quarter.

Edgewood took the lead on a bit of trickery in the second quarter. On third-and-9 from the Harrison 44-yard line, Cougar quarterback Brandon Marcum hit Bryant French with a pass along the right sideline. French then quickly lateraled off to Elder who trailed the play.

Elder rumbled down the right sideline for the remainder of the distance untouched for the score.

The Cougars weren't finished with their bag of tricks. T.J. Smith squibbed the ensuing kickoff, and an Edgewood player emerged from the bottom of the pile with the ball on Harrison's 34-yard line.

Three plays later, Elder ran in from 5 yards out to put Edgewood up 21-7.

*from Middletown Journal*

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