Football: OHARA 51 CHRIST PREP 23

CELTICS OVER PATRIOTS 51-23 The O’Hara football team brought their record to 4-2 with a decisive 51-23 victory over Christ Preparatory Academy in a rare Saturday afternoon game. Seven times the Celtics scored touchdowns against the Patriots along with an early field goal. Of the three touchdowns scored against the Celtics, two were realized during the late fourth quarter while the O’Hara starters were on the side line. In the first quarter, the Celtics scored twice. A quick 47 yard pass play from TJ White to Aaron Stubblefield helped bring the ball close enough for a 27 yard field goal by Bryce Scovill. The next time O’Hara got the ball on a punt on the 15 yard line, TJ White lifted a pass to Danny Hernandez for an 82 yard gain! It was easy for James Tillman to score on a 3 yard run. In the second quarter, the Celtics scored three touchdowns and gave up one. From midfield, TJ White again found Danny Hernandez for a long gain of 36 yards. The TD was recorded by Donnie Criswell on a 10 yarder. The Patriots ran ten plays in their ensuing series and brought the score to 17-7 with Zach Hadley accounting for six points on a short line plunge and Christian Jones obtaining the extra point. In two plays, O’Hara answered with a touchdown. Joe Pepple caught a nine yard pass from TJ White and Raphael Spenser sped 51 yards for O’Hara’s second TD of the quarter. The third TD of the quarter was scored with less than 30 seconds on the clock. After the Patriots yielded possession on downs, TJ White connected with James Tillman for an electric 54 yard scoring pass. The halftime score was 31-7. O’Hara got the ball back on the third play of the second half on a fumble. Three plays later, Danny Hernandez caught a pass from TJ White for a touchdown that covered fifty yards. The Patriots had the ball for the next ten plays after which they failed on a fourth down attempt. In the Celtics’ first play, James Tillman outran the Patriots’ defense for a lengthy 82 yard score. Bryce Scovill kicked his seventh extra point of the game to make a score 45-7 and making the game one of a running clock since the margin was 38 points. O’Hara began to empty its bench to give other team members game experience. The Patriots took advantage of this and scored their first TD of the second half. Lenard Manuel plunged for the points and Evan Bauer ran a two-point conversion. With the margin of the score less than 35, the running clock was discontinued until O’Hara scored for their last points of the game. Quarterback Josh Stazen completed a ten yard pass to Larry Liggett for the TD. O’Hara elected to go for two points but was stopped short of the goal line, but the 51-15 score now had the necessary margin to return to the running clock. With time running out, Lenard Manuel gave the Patriot fans a thrill with a 46 yard scoring run and Colin Keedy scored the two-point conversion.