South Lakes Football Falls to Battlefield On Late Kickoff Return

By BRIAN McNICOLL

With 34 seconds left in the game Friday night at Battlefield High, the South Lakes High defense stood on the sideline waiting to close out what would be a memorable and noteworthy victory over the Bobcats.

Battlefield, which went 11-1 a year ago and is the second-highest-ranked public school in the DC area, trailed the Seahawks by two points. Their high-powered offense had been limited to 230 yards. None of their feared receivers had more than 36 yards on the night. None of their stable of high-powered running backs had 100 yards.

This was not just doable, it was likely.

But the Seahawk defense never got the chance.

Keaton Ramey, the most dangerous of those receivers, took Nick Bertoni’s kickoff on the right, veered back left, followed his blockers then streaked past everyone for a stunning 99-yard kickoff return that gave Battlefield a 20-16 victory.
Ramey’s return left South Lakes just 20 seconds to respond, and Seahawks quarterback Christian Wyatt was intercepted on the first play of the drive to end South Lakes’ hopes.

But oh, what might have been.

What Hescock feared most was that the Bobcats would pull ahead early then ride the confidence of their 11-1 season last year to an easy victory. And the Seahawks, now 2-1, did find themselves in positions where they could’ve fallen way behind on a couple of occasions.

Battlefield, now 3-0, overcame a penalty, a fumble and two tackles for losses to score on its first drive and make it 7-0. South Lakes then fumbled on its next possession, giving Battlefield the ball back near midfield.

But this time the defense stiffened, and it was then South Lakes’ turn to score. The Seahawks took advantage of 25 yards in penalties and a bruising 9-yard touchdown run by Dalton Blakeney to tie the game at 7 with about nine minutes left in the half.

“We just kept on moving,” said Blakeney, who gained 76 yards on 18 carries. “We had some things working … good runs, screens to the tight end and wide receiver and me. We kept at it.”

The defense followed that up by forcing a turnover when linebacker Colin Wall jarred the ball loose from Battlefield quarterback Calum Oshea and South Lakes defensive back Eric Kowalcyk jumped on it near midfield. Eleven plays later, on 4th-and-goal at the 2, Hescock opted for a field goal and Bertoni made a 20-yarder to make it 10-7 about three minutes before halftime.

That held up until the first play of the fourth quarter, when Battlefield running back Jayden Blackstock scored from a yard out to make it 14-10. The Seahawks looked to have forced a tying field goal a play earlier after a drive in which Battlefield needed 11 plays to go 37 yards. But South Lakes jumped offside, and Battlefield took the penalty, then went for the touchdown to take the lead.

Not only did the Seahawks fall behind a top team late in the game, but their next drive stalled at the Battlefield six with 7:07 to go.

But the Seahawks still didn't let go. They got a stop of their own, thanks to a sack by Cameron Soto that put the Bobcats behind the chains, and with 3:06 to go they had one last chance.

Wyatt hit Blakeney for 20 yards and a first, then Nick Picarelli for 33 – the longest gain of the year so far for the dangerous receiver. Three plays later, on 2nd-and-goal at the 11, Wyatt hit Nate Zschunke over the middle on a play-action pass to make it 16-14.

“We expected them to be higher than they were defensively, but they stayed low and took it away a lot of the night,” said Zschunke, who has feasted on that play this year for many of his 11 catches. “That time, there was nobody there. It was wide open, and we hit it.”

Then came time to decide how to kickoff. The Seahawks had on two occasions pooched kickoffs between the first and second layers of the defense and come close to recovering, but Hescock didn’t want to do that because it would give Battlefield good field position, and a field goal would win the game.

He also considered a “power squib” kick, where the kick is kept low along the ground and squibbed to someone other than the featured returner. But Hescock said Bertoni told him he could get it into the end zone.

The choice looked good. A high booming kick drove Ramey back. He slipped as he caught it and barely kept his back foot out of the end zone. But once he got going, he was impossible to stop.

“We were the better team except for that one play,” Hescock said. “I never lost a game like that before, and I never want to do it again.”

South Lakes 0 10 0 6 – 16
Battlefield 7 0 0 13 – 20
B-Jayden Johnson, 3 run (Cody Molina kick)
SL-Dalton Blakeney, 9 run (Nick Bertoni kick)
SL-Bertoni, FG 20
B-Hayden Blackstock, 1 run (Molina kick)
SL-Nate Zschunke, 11 pass from Christian Wyatt (kick failed)
B-Keaton Ramey, 99 kickoff return (pass failed)

SL B
First Downs 12 11
Rushes-Yds 28-134 28-169
Passing Yards 175 61
Passes A-C-I 25-21-2 10-6-1
Punts-Avg. 1-27 2-18
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 3-1
Penalties-Yds 3-30 9-70

RUSHING – SL: Blakeney 18-76, Nick Picarelli 5-6, Wyatt 5-52. B: Blackstock 11-45, Tyler Brown 8-91, Syrus Davis 3-24, Brandon Murray 2-9, Ramey 1-minus 4, Calum Oshea 3-minus 6.
PASSING – SL: Wyatt 25-21-2, 175 yards, 1 TD. Oshea 10-6-1,61 yards.
RECEIVING – SL: Blakeney 6-73, Picarelli 7-41, George Zarenchak 3-17, Zschunke 4-33, TD; Josh Dagbe 1-6. B: Davis 2-7, Murray 1-5, Blackstock 1-14, Ramey 2-36.