September 14, 2008

Miscues And Turnovers Make Lions Work For A Tight 29-24 Battle Against Sun Youth

The Lions were very fortunate to have dodged a bullet last night.  In a game that was marred with miscues, turnovers and missed assignments, the Lions barely squeaked by the Sun Youth Hornets in a hard fought 29-24 battle.  The Lions offense was plagued with problems which Sun Youth understandably took full advantage of and capitalized on whenever they could.  In all, 5 interceptions were thrown where 2 of them were run back by the Hornets for TD's. Along with a fumble and a variety of other errors in blocking assignments and ball handling, this made for a display of football abilities that was far less spectacular than what the Lions are usually capable of.

Thankfully for the Lions, running back Andrew Hopkins managed to find his groove by producing 215 yards on 18 carries and one TD.  Rookie Kevin Kyere got two more rushing majors while Evan Wiley got his first of the season. Shawn Steen added 3 more converts to his season's total. 

The Lions defense kept them in the game by limiting the Sun Youth offense to only 146 total yards.  Linebacker Trevor Cernivz led the defense with 5 tackles, a fumble recovery and half a sack.  Kadeem Nurse played a great game with one and a half sacks and Patrick Smith came up big with 2 interceptions.  Shawn Steen got another interception while Dimitri Divolis scored a 2 point safety when he sacked the Hornets QB in their endzone. 

On special teams, one particular play changed the momentum of the game late in the fourth quarter when Kyeon Nicely made a bone-jarring tackle on a Sun Youth punt returner which forced a fumble that was recovered by Killian Moore.  This sealed the deal for the Lions as it prevented the Hornets from getting another chance to score again.

Next week, the Lions will wind up their road trip in Lasalle where they will take on the Warriors for the second time this season.  The game is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 20th at 16:00 at Keith Ewenson Park.

Copyright 2006 North Shore Lions