Harris is immense, but English football falls

BEVERLY – English quarterback Lucas Harris did his best Superman impression on Saturday at Hurd Stadium. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, Beverly’s Christian Miller and Matt Madden had similarly fantastic afternoons.Harris accounted for 464 of English’s 478 yards of offense on Saturday but Madden and Miller proved unstoppable as they combined for 441 rushing yards and five touchdowns as the Panthers outlasted the Bulldogs, 37-24.?Lucas has the heart of a lion,” English coach Peter Holey said. “We are playing a lot of freshmen and sophomores in key positions and the mistakes we made are what happens when you do that. I couldn’t ask for anymore from the kids. We just made a couple of mistakes.”For the day, Harris completed 27 of 40 passes for 317 yards and two touchdowns. He also added 147 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. It turned out English needed everything he had as the Bulldogs were without running backs Stevie Collins and Daekwon Shepard, both out for disciplinary reasons.Even without two of their top offensive threats, the Bulldogs (1-5) still went nose to nose with Beverly (3-3). But the Panthers finally wore down English’s defense at crunch time.?English always plays us tough and boy was Harris unbelievable,” Beverly coach Dan Bauer said. “We tried a lot of different ways to come at him and he still made plays. But in the second half we were able to calm some things down and make some big plays.”Big plays dominated the first half as the two teams combined for 613 yards of offense and seven touchdowns.Beverly got the track meet started when Madden (19-235) raced 86 yards midway through the first for a 6-0 lead. The Bulldogs responded quickly as Harris, who hit on 11-of-12 passes to begin the game, used a variety of short tosses to move English inside the Panthers 30.He then caught the Panther secondary napping when Jonathan Kosmas snuck out of the backfield and was wide open on a 26-yard TD pass that tied the game. The Panther kick return unit, which excelled all afternoon, gave Beverly a short field as Peter Mulumba returned the ensuing kick to the English 36.Three plays later, Madden raced around left end for a 12 yard score and a 12-6 Beverly lead with 3:53 still left in the first.English came right back on the strength of Harris’ arm and legs on a 10 play, 69 yard march. He capped the drive early in the second quarter with a one yard dive that tied it at 12-12.Miller (20-206) then got into the act as he took a fullback trap 64 yards to the house on the second play of the next drive to put the Panthers back in front. It stayed that way until Madden fumbled on the next Beverly possession and Anthony DeLaCruz recovered for English.Harris did the rest, rushing for 15 on first down and then hitting C.J. Hernandez (7 catches, 125 yards) for a 45-yard touchdown to give English its first lead of the day at 19-18 with 6:26 left in the half.After a punt, Harris made his first mistake of the day when Mike McKenna picked off a throw under pressure. He returned the ball to the Bulldogs 29 from where Madden and Miller did the rest.Madden’s second score of the day, a one yard plunge, with 1:03 left sent the Panthers to the locker room with a 25-18 lead.The Bulldogs went three-and-out to begin the third quarter, giving Beverly a chance to open up some breathing room. A 23-yard pass from Brian Flaherty to younger brother Kevin put the Panthers in position to score and Madden did just that when he went over from 36 yards to make it 31-18 with 7:41 left in the third.It was still a two score game late in the third when Harris moved English down field thanks to passes to Miguel Martinez (9 catches, 61 yards), Hernandez and DeLaCruz. A one yard run from Harris with 1:07 left cut the lead to 31-24.It didn’t stay that way for long as Miller returned the ensuing kick 62 yards to the English 28. Two plays later, he scored on the opening snap of the fourth quarter to restore a two touchdown lead for Beverly.English drove back down field