Good week fizzles for Perri, O’Hara

MARPLE TWP. >> With 6:07 to play, Cardinal O’Hara finally felt good about itself. Down seven to West Catholic, John Caponi had forced a fumble that Joe Kelly recovered to set the Lions up in positive territory. Four plays later Keed Kpoto bulled his way through the Burrs for a touchdown, rolling over a defender into the end zone.

O’Hara went for two. Kpoto was stopped in the backfield. West Catholic traveled down the field and scored, and the Lions went from two yards out for the lead to losing, 21-12.

O’Hara’s night was full of misses: extra points, conversions, tackles and opportunities.

“We had a (four-play) drive there, where we moved (36 yards),” Lions coach BJ Hogan said of going for two. “You’ve got momentum, you do it. We just didn’t execute. … Looking back, I would do the same thing over and over.”

Hogan had to gamble. Five times he watched his offense move inside the West Catholic 30-yard line. It came away with just two scores.

“It was very frustrating knowing we were really working hard up front,” two-way lineman Louis Perri said. “It just seemed like we were working really hard to get down there, and then all of a sudden we just stopped doing what we did the whole drive, and we just lost it.”

The Burrs came out flying. On their second play from scrimmage, Zahir Booker broke through the O’Hara line for a 47-yard gain. Quarterback Zaire Hart-Hawkins kept the drive alive with a scramble on fourth down, then found Rasheem Brown over the middle for an 18-yard touchdown.

After trading punts, the Lions marched down the field, going 55 yards on 14 plays. On fourth-and-three from the seven, Luke Sprague hit his younger brother, Cole, on a slant to make it 7-6. And that’s when their frustrations began in earnest.

O’Hara missed the extra point, only to recover the ensuing kickoff. But that drive stalled at the Burrs’ 29. On West Catholic’s next possession, Cole Sprague picked off Hart-Hawkins and returned the ball to the 20. The Lions eventually found themselves first-and-goal from the 7, before going backwards twice, once on an end-around pass that never developed. They would turn the ball over on downs.

“We called a trick play, which I called,” Hogan said. “It was probably stupid. It was a negative play. But we took a shot.”

The Lions needed to do something. When one side of the ball plays well while the other struggles, you pull out all the stops. You go deep into the playbook. You go for two.

“Sometimes you don’t execute,” Perri said. “And that’s what happened tonight. We worked very hard. We had a really good week of practice, and we just couldn’t execute. That’s all it came down to.”

Booker padded the Burrs’ advantage after the break. He ran into the left side of the line, reversed course and raced around the right end for a 41-yard touchdown.

Perri and the O’Hara defense did their best to tread water. Perri dropped Jacir Savoy on third-and-14 from the Lions’ 26 for a three-yard loss, which was followed by a sack. On the Lions’ next defensive possession, they forced the fumble that led to Kpoto’s touchdown.

But that was as close as O’Hara (3-2 overall, 1-2 Philadelphia Catholic League) would get. Booker accounted for all 41 yards as West Catholic (4-1, 3-0) added an insurance score. The junior finished with 173 yards on 11 carries.

The result leaves the Lions in a tough place. With two losses by a combined 14 points and a defense that has given up a total of 53 on the season, O’Hara has reason to believe it could be 5-0 and a title contender.

“We’re in high school. It’s hard to accept that,” Perri said. “Usually you can put it past you, but we were so close, and (if) just a few things happen that go our way, then we win the game.”