By Travis Wells –
Maybe it was all the rain that cut into practice this week. Or the day off school that interrupted the regular schedule.
Whatever the reason, a Comet late-game rally was not enough to hold off the Lampeter-Strasburg Pioneers on the gridiron during a postponed game that ended up with a 15-9 loss for Penn Manor Saturday evening.
It started off a little rough for the Penn Manor squad when L-S scored within the first three minutes of the game and went haywire from there as the Comets just couldn’t seem to find a connection with the ball. The first quarter ended with the Pioneers on top 6-0.
“We had a lot of mistakes and just couldn’t seem to get anything started,” said Penn Manor quarterback Adam Sahd.
The second quarter gave the Comets an opportunity to get down to play and they made two fourth-down conversions in a drive that saw Brandon Stones score allowing Penn Manor to take a slight 7-6 lead.
But L-S came back in the second quarter to score again, Pioneers up 12-7.
“The lack of practices this week could have been the reason we weren’t very active,” said Penn Manor player Adam Hess. “We were all together pretty sloppy.”
After a season opening win against Solanco, the Comets were hoping to improve their record. But a steady downpour of rain from Tropical Storm Lee flooded bridges and roads and caused the district to cancel school Thursday. The game had been scheduled for Friday but was moved back a day to let the field dry out.
The second half saw a different Comet team. An onside kick by Comet’s Brian Sloss ended up in an L-S fumble and the ball was recovered by the Comets.
The next play, often called “The Berlin Wall” allowed the Comets to go in for a score which would have tightened the score in the end but the touchdown was called back because of a holding call.
On the Pioneers next possession, they were able to score a field goal, ended the third quarter with L-S up 15-7.
“We need a stop,” Comets assistant coach Gordie Eck yelled to his players. “It’s now or never.”
The Comets did just that. Hess sacked the L-S quarterback in their end zone forcing a fumble that ended in a safety.
The Comets got the ball back and drove to score in vain before time ran out. The final score was 15-9, L-S.
“We just need to shake this loss off and put it in the past, learn from our mistakes and get ready for our game next week,” said Hess.