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KINGSTON — The Wyoming Seminary offense felt stuck in the starter’s blocks for more than three quarters, not able to get going until far too late.
A fourth-quarter touchdown helped the Blue Knights avoid a shutout, but that was about all they could muster in a 29-7 loss to the Lawrenceville School at Nesbitt Stadium on Saturday.
That late score, a 41-yard pass from Michael McMaugh to Tiago Francisco, accounted for nearly a third of Sem’s total yardage on the day. The Blue Knights didn’t move the chains for the first time until the third quarter, and just couldn’t find any room to maneuver against the Lawrenceville defense.
“We made a couple early errors. … It’s a long season, we play a really tough schedule,” Wyoming Seminary coach Kevin Burke said.
The Blue Knights fell behind 14-0 early, with a couple of those errors aiding Lawrenceville as they took the lead.
On the Big Red’s first drive, Wyoming Seminary was called for having 12 men on the field on a fourth down situation, allowing Lawrenceville to extend the drive and eventually score, quarterback Simon Fassberg connecting with Brock Getson for a touchdown.
Wyoming Seminary would then turn the ball over on a botched handoff exchange, giving Lawrenceville the ball in Blue Knights territory. Fassberg threw his second touchdown pass in just over a minute to give the Big Red a 14-0 lead.
Sem’s defense would rally, and hold Lawrenceville’s offense without a point until the closing seconds of the third quarter. They made several key stops, shut down the run game and got a key interception and big return from Tiago Francisco to try and breathe some life into the team.
“We had a lot of second guys in the game, both corners were replaced, a safety was replaced, one of our linebackers,” Burke said. “Those guys came in and really did their jobs, they did a great job.”
Unfortunately for Wyoming Seminary, the offense couldn’t capitalize. Lawrenceville would add to their lead with a safety late in the second quarter, and kept Sem bottled up tight.
Lawrenceville would run the lead to 29-0 in the fourth quarter before McMaugh found Francisco wide open down the seam for the lone Seminary touchdown of the afternoon.
Sem drove down one final time and got the ball into Lawrenceville territory in the game’s final seconds, but McMaugh couldn’t evade the pressure and was sacked to end the game.
The Blue Knights (0-2) will have a bye next weekend before returning to Nesbitt Stadium to host Haverford on Sept. 28.
Lawrenceville 29, Wyoming Seminary 7
Lawrenceville`14`2`7`6 — 29
Wyoming Seminary`0`0`0`7 — 7
First Quarter
LAW — Brock Getson 12 pass from Simon Fassberg (Jonathan Yang kick), 7:18
LAW — Colt Lumpris 40 pass from Fassberg (Yang kick), 6:01
Second quarter
LAW — Michael McMaugh tackled in end zone, 3:53
Third quarter
LAW — Getson 64 pass from Jacob Zamot (Yang kick), 0:12
Fourth quarter
LAW — Dayne Bates 6 run (kick failed), 9:27
WS — Tiago Francisco 41 pass from Michael McMaugh (Gio Gallo kick), 7:04
Team statistics`LAW`WS
First downs`18`9
Rushes-yards`28-98`23-33
Passing yards`282`92
Total yards`380`125
Passing`20-33-1`8-17-0
Sacked-yards lost`1-2`2-9
Punts-avg.`4-32.5`6-39.3
Fumbles-lost`0-0`2-1
Penalties-yards`6-55`8-49
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — LAW, Billy Dunn Jr. 14-53, Fassberg 2-1, Zain Broady 3-17, Bates 1-6, CJ Nwadi 6-21. WS, Jaden Arteberry 4-(minus-9), McMaugh 8-(minus-2), Alex Roman 11-44.
PASSING — LAW, Fassberg 17-29-1-189, Zamot 3-4-0-93. WS, McMaugh 8-17-0-92.
RECEIVING — LAW, Lumpris 8-121, Wyatt Stamnes 1-18, Getson 2-76, Corey Woodson 1-6, Prabhdeep Singh 2-10, Broady 1-8, Sean Currie 2-12, Jevaughn Dube 2-29. WS, Roman 1-(minus-1), Trumain Lawson 2-2, Arterberry 1-15, Francisco 2-61, Gavin Green 2-15.