By Spencer Spilman
The fans that came out Friday night to watch the Lehman Lobos battle the Anderson Trojans got quite a show. It was a high scoring game that remained close all the way until the finish.
The Lobo’s Jeremy Schilhab accounted for four touchdowns, but that wasn’t enough to get the win. The Trojans held on in the end, 49-40.
Anderson moved the ball with ease all night with their two-headed monster at quarterback. Seniors Kirby Hill and Thomas Ramsdale shared playing time and dominated the Lehman defense all night.
Down 7-0, Lehman came out with some trickery following a big return from Brett Wagner on the kickoff. Lobos ran a flea-flicker and quarterback Schilhab found a wide-open Jaren Sayles for a 43-yard touchdown on their first play from scrimmage. Schilhab and Sayles connected several more times throughout the game.
After the game Schilhab credited the coaches for the play.
“Coach said if we had a good return on the kickoff that we were going to run the play,” said Schilhab. “It was wide-open and worked perfectly.”
Anderson came back and scored again following the Lobos touchdown. Once again it was a rushing touchdown from Hill, his second of the first quarter.
The Trojans were ready to make it 21-7, but Ramsdale fumbled the ball out of the endzone, leading to a touchback, and Lehman’s ball. It took just three plays, and after taking the pitch on a run option, JR Torres went 54 yards to tie the game at 14.
Anderson answered back with a touchdown; this time Hill passed it to James Baran for a 10-yard score. However, the extra point hit the upright so the Trojans took a 20-14 lead.
The Lobos came back with a long drive that was capped off with a rushing touchdown from Schilhab, and Lehman took its first lead of the game at 21-20.
The Trojans would plant a dagger with just seconds before the half. Ramsdale came in and ran the two-minute offense to perfection, eventually finding Andrew Glazer for a four-yard touchdown with just 12.5 seconds left in the half. Anderson would add the two-point conversion with a pass to Gavin Graham to make it 28-21.
Lehman came out of the half and drove down the field. Schilhab threw up a pass on fourth and goal and Sayles used his size to come down with his second touchdown of the night.
Anderson’s fumble woes continued, as Deon Barnes fumbled into the end zone, leading to another Lehman touchback. Once again the Lobos took advantage. This time it was Brett Wagner playing quarterback. After finding a big hole, Wagner took it 28 yards for the touchdown, but Lehman missed the extra point and found themselves down 35-34.
After two more touchdowns, Anderson was leading 49-34 with just 4:38 left in the game. Schilhab didn’t give up, and he led the Lobos down the field for another score. He and Sayles connected for their third score of the game, this time from 25 yards out. Lehman again missed the extra point and the score stayed at 49-40 from then until the finish.
Lobo coach Todd Raymond felt good about the way his team played but was still disappointed.
“We knew it was going to be a slugfest, and they just stopped us one more time than we stopped them,” said Raymond.
