MARPLE TWP. — Cardinal O’Hara’s defense knew it would be in for battle against a West Catholic team that has quite a few dangerous offensive weapons.
The Lions’ focus on containing the Burrs spread offense paid off, as O’Hara secured a 7-0 victory in a game where both offenses struggled to get much going. The contest would go right down to the game’s final play when West Catholic’s final pass attempt was caught in the end zone area, but was ruled out of bounds at the final buzzer.
Surely, it ended up tighter than O’Hara coach Mike Ewing would have liked, but the Lions will take the victory.
“I’m very proud. That quarterback (the Burrs’ Kal-El Durham) is extremely dangerous and he can hurt you on any one play. Our kids did their jobs,” said Ewing, whose team improved to 3-1. “They rushed him when they had to, they stayed home when they had to, they made open field tackles, and played together as a team on defense. Offensively, we did well, too, we just shot ourselves in the foot at times. But we got the win in the end and that’s all that matters.”
Despite the way the game played out, it looked like it was going to be a shootout in first minute.
Lions quarterback John Welde threw an absolutely perfect ball to Khalil Epps to get things started. The speedy wideout was hit in stride and Epps outraced the Burrs defense to the end zone for a 72-yard touchdown just 51 seconds into the game.
“That’s something that (offensive coordinator Joe Stratton and offensive line coach Nykeal Jalloh) schemed up,” Ewing said. “They schemed the slant up and when the opportunity presented itself, he said, ‘What do you think?’ and I said, ‘You did all the work, call it’ and it worked. Great job by those guys.”
From there, however, the teams traded possessions without a score until the game ended.
O’Hara defenders Zion Knox and Sidique Kamara were two of the Lions who harassed Durham all night.
“We were communicating and talking the whole game, it was a team effort,” Knox said. “We knew this was going to be a dogfight when we first walked in here. We knew what we were walking into.”
Kamara, who also tallied 32 yards rushing on offense, knew containing Durham would be key.
“West Catholic had a great core, we respect them a lot, but coming into the game we all just had to watch the quarterback,” Kamara said. “We came in and set the tone (with the early touchdown), we kept our energy, we kept it going. Defense came in good and we all played our role.”
O’Hara punter Jack McKinney ended up being a star in this game for the Lions.
“(McKinney) was phenomenal,” Ewing said. “He bailed us out multiple times. He got us out past midfield when we were inside of our own 15-yard or 20-yard line. Tonight, Jack McKinney was a big weapon for us.”
West Catholic, who fell to 0-3, did manage to put a scare into the Lions early in the second half when Durham ripped off a 70-yard scamper deep into Lions territory.
O’Hara’s defense was, again, up to the challenge as Ethan Schulcz forced a fumbled with a big hit on a running play, with John Brown eager to jump on the loose ball to kill off a massive red zone threat by the Burrs.
“There was a little bit of pressure there, but I trusted my guys. Zion was next to me the whole game making great plays and helping me make great plays,” Schulcz said. “The whole D-line, our linebackers, and safeties were all a part of the win. Every day at practice we come out here and tell all of our guys to bring energy, fly around, and have fun. Most importantly, we want to have fun because if you aren’t having fun, you’re not going to make plays. We just came out here, knowing we had a big, tough opponent, and we knew what we had to do and we did it.”
