Staff Report
August 03, 2008 10:36 pm
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Just as a pre-game ceremony honoring legendary Lockport-area coach Doug Cooper wrapped up, a rainbow appeared in the sky over Outwater Park Saturday night.
Unfortunately for the Lockport Rage that was one of the few bright spots in a 22-16 Northeastern Football Alliance loss to visiting Watertown at Exchange Field. The loss was the third straight to start the season for the Rage.
“It was a huge disappointment for us,” Lockport defensive coordinator and linebacker Will Stiles said. “They couldn’t match up with us. We beat ourselves again.”
Lockport actually held a late 16-14 lead midway through the fourth quarter when disaster struck. Lining up to punt, the snap was low and punter Andrew Granchelli was forced to throw the ball on a broken play. The ball was intercepted by a Watertown defender and returned for a touchdown. Watertown added the two-point conversion and took a 22-16 lead.
The Rage would make one final effort, though, managing to get the ball all the way down inside Watertown’s 10-yard line. From there, Lockport turned the ball over on downs with a just over a minute remaining.
Watertown scored only one offensive touchdown and that came in the opening quarter on a stellar pass play. The other Watertown score came via a kickoff return late in the third quarter, which took the momentum away from Lockport. The Rage had just scored to take a 16-7 lead on a 35-yard strike from quarterback Lamont Rhim to Patrick Langford.
“Too many special teams breakdowns,” Stiles said. “The defense made a 180-degree turn from last week and our special teams just was not on point and it cost us the game.”
Tailback P.J. Harris scored for Lockport on a 28-yard run and Granchelli booted a 35-yard field goal.
The Rage return to action at 7:30 p.m. Saturday when they host the Southern Tier Diesel.
“We dug out of it last year , but we really didn’t want to do it again this year,” Stiles said of the slow start. “We’ve got to regroup. We need a home win, if for no other reason than to keep fans coming to our games.”
Other scores from around the NFA included: Syracuse 28, Buffalo 0; Albany 42, Glove City 22; Utica 42, Southern Tier 6; Monroe County 48, Lyndonville 6.
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