English does everything but score in loss to Beverly

LYNN – The Lynn English football team did everything but put the ball in the endzone against Beverly on a rainy Friday night at Manning Field.English ran 10 more plays (45-35) than the Panthers did in the game on three consecutive drives. But each time the Beverly defense came through to make a play, incuding recovering a fumble at the seven with 2:20 left, as the Panthers took a 6-0 win in the season opener.”It was a collective effort by all of them,” Beverly coach Dan Bauer said about that side of the ball. “They bent but didn’t break.”English coach Peter Holey was happy with how his team played, but saw a few things that need to improve next week.”We played with passion for four quarters,” Holey said. “I’m not upset with how we played except for those fumbles. We told the team that you can’t turn the ball over anytime. Usually the team that loses the turnover battle doesn’t win.”The Bulldogs spread offense did the job, racking up 178 yards on the ground, 266 in all and 20 first downs. They held the ball for twice as long as Beverly but just couldn’t find a way to score.English marched to the Beverly 42 on the game’s opening possession but saw that drive thwarted by a Rashad Sims interception. Following a punt on the next possession, the Bulldogs again drove deep in Beverly territory.But quarterback Jesse Fowler again was picked off, this time by Dylan Terry at the 15.”We had a couple of bad passes and that’s going to happen in this offense,” Holey said.The English defense also was playing well as it stonewalled BEverly through the first quarter and into the second. But with 7:48 left in the half, the Panthers finally got going.Starting at its seven, Beverly turned to Sims. A 39-yard scamper by the senior tailback got the Panthers out of jail. Mark Hannable’s 21-yard quarterback draw got the ball to the 25, from which Sims dashed up the middle for a score and a 6-0 lead.English responded on the legs of Fowler and fullback Jermaine Patterson. The two did most of the work on a 17 play drive from the Bulldog 25 that reached the Beverly four when Fowler hit Justin Young for a 10-yard gain with 45 seconds left.But Fowler was sacked on consecutive plays, pushing the ball back to the 18 before the half ended.”That stop was huge,” Bauer said. “It’s a killer if they score there.”Beverly got the ball to start the second half and promptly turned it over when Sims fumbled at the English 46.The Bulldogs then went right back to moving down field. Another Fowler-to-Young completion got the ball to midfield and eventually English reached the 28 before the Panther defense stood up again to force a turnover on downs.Once again, though, the Beverly offense couldn’t do anything against the English defense as Greg Brotherton’s unit allowed only 175 yards in the game.That unit put the ball back in Fowler and company’s hands with a little over eight minutes to go and 77 yards from a winning score.Methodically English began moving down field on the legs of Patterson and Fowler’s right arm. A 26-yard catch and run by Young got the ball to the Panther 25.A completion to Taron Seaforth on fourth-and-three at the 17 kept the march going. Patterson then ran three times to the two, giving English a chance to win.But on first-and-goal, Fowler fumbled the center snap and Sims recovered at the seven.”We have to learn how to close,” Holey said. “It’s a process but we’re going to do it.”The defense held firm, forcing a punt with 45 seconds left. But Joe Wioncek’s kick was muffed and Beverly recovered to run out the clock.