There’s no secret to the success of the 2016 Red Lion football team and that is power. While the Lions have been putting up points this season, the interior lines - on both sides of the ball – play a bigger role than most people realize.
It was more of the same last Friday when the Lions hosted Northeastern in a Division I clash.
A long, punishing drive gave Red Lion a 14-7 lead, and started a 21-point, barrage during a four-minute stretch of the third quarter. Pat Daugherty started the blitz with a 2-yard run and moments later, he intercepted a pass that led to a Sam Emig TD.
Dylan Gurreri, who caught a 16-yard scoring pass from Emig that tied the game late in the first half, capped the run with a 66-yard touchdown and the Lions went on to post a 35-14 victory.
After falling behind 7-0 early in the second quarter, unbeaten Red Lion (5-0) dominated the rest of the way. As coach Jesse Shay said, it started up front.
“They were fantastic,” he said. “What I think we do so well, and it’s a credit to our senior leadership, is we don’t panic … Pat Daugherty, boy did he show up. I know he only had 27 yards, but every single one of them was big.”
It was a display of power football.
“We thought we would struggle a little with their speed in the zone read. We are going to go with our strength up the middle. This is Pennsylvania high school football you better be able to run the ball and run it between the tackles,” Shay said.
“Before we left halftime I said we are going to run the ball and take the lead and sure enough they made me look like Nostradamus.”
Shay said that a 28-7 lead heading into the fourth quarter was great, however, “you know the athletes they have. You know they can score 21 points in a quarter.”
But the Lions’ defense would have none of it, allowing only a late touchdown run.
Red Lion’s next opponent is South Western, which is coming off a hard-fought 14-11 win at Central York. Check out the Mustangs’ roster.
