Frederick overcomes weather, Lindsay for crucial district win

By Glen Brockenbush   

FREDERICK – With a possible residence playoff recreation on the road, Friday’s contest between Lindsay and Frederick had a lot at stake.  

And whereas the rain and dirt (mixed with penalties) made for a sloppy recreation at instances, it definitely delivered the drama that one expects from a recreation with a lot at stake. 

Frederick head coach Bret Tyler dug into his bag of tips and known as a play his staff seldom makes use of. On a difficult misdirection handoff, the diminutive Kellan Hicks, all 5-foot-7, 135 kilos of him, snuck via the road of scrimmage and thru the whole Lindsay protection for a 49-yard landing run.

That rating halfway via the fourth quarter proved to be the decisive one, as Frederick held on for a 21-20 win on the rain-soaked Bomber Bowl on Friday evening.

With a win subsequent week, the Bombers safe the 2-seed in District 2A-3, and would host a playoff recreation within the first spherical.

After Lindsay took a 20-15 lead simply earlier than the halfway level within the last quarter, Frederick discovered itself simply previous midfield.

Although Willie Cramer had been the staff’s workhorse again for a lot of the evening, and Alex Mathews had offered a spark when wanted, the teaching workers turned to their junior receiver.

“Man, we almost never run (that play),” Hicks stated. “Usually, we run a sweep, try to get (the defense) to go with the motion. And we just hit them with the back-side run.”

It labored completely. Hicks – who additionally intercepted a go on protection – broke via the road of scrimmage and rapidly discovered daylight to the top zone. However, the two-point conversion was no good.

And with greater than 5 minutes left, there seemed to be loads of time left for the Leopards to strike again.

But with the moist circumstances and an aggressive Bomber protection, the Lindsay passing recreation was missing, and quarterback Broty Ramming, for as exhausting to deal with within the run recreation as he was, couldn’t muster a game-winning drive.

“They came in and they were kind of a passing team, with a passing quarterback,” Tyler stated after the sport. “The climate circumstances being what they had been, they began working the ball with that quarterback.

“But I just like the fight of our team. They overcame some adversity and just made plays when we needed to, and got the big win.”

Despite the weather, each team’s offense was actually able to move the ball quite well. Each team’s first two drives of the game produced touchdowns.

Cramer had a 30-yard run to put the Bombers on top. The rest of the scoring came on short-yardage scores that capped long, methodical drives.

Jacob Vaughn snuck in for a Lindsay TD, with a two-point conversion putting the visitors ahead. A quarterback sneak by Adrian Gaytan at the beginning of the second quarter put Frederick back in front, with a Cramer run for two making the score 15-8.

Ramming proved hard to tackle all night, and his 4-yard touchdown run about midway through the second quarter put the Leopards in position to tie or lead the game. But the Bomber defense stiffened on the two-point conversion, giving the hosts a 15-14 lead at halftime.

There were some examples of the weather coming into play, with several dropped passes and poor footing. The sloppy and conservative style continued in the third quarter, with no points being registered by either team.

Gaytan, the Bombers’ senior quarterback, completed 5-of-6 passes in the first half, but didn’t complete any more after that, in part due to the slickness of the ball.

“It was a little bit of a factor, but our o-line was working hard and opened up holes for our running backs, and that really helped us (Friday),” Gaytan said.

The Leopards found themselves in a fourth-and-15 situation, and despite good pass rush and coverage by the secondary, Ramming was able to connect with Andon Register, setting up a first-and-goal. Three plays later, Vaughn punched it in for the Lindsay score.

But the two-point conversion pass was incomplete, leaving the score at 20-15 with 6:35 left in the game. A minute later, Frederick scored the go-ahead score.

Frederick (7-2, 5-1 in District 2A-3) ends the regular season at Community Christian in Norman on Friday, while Lindsay (6-3, 4-2) visits Crooked Oak.