Desperately needing to win its game against Grand Street Campus, August Martin, behind senior quarterback Henry Lancaster‘s four touchdowns, went on to rout the Wolves, 48-16, at Springfield Gardens High School Field Sunday.
It was the Falcons’ first PSAL 2A Conference victory of the season.
Lancaster threw for three touchdowns while rushing for another, playing arguably the best game of his high school football career.
He credited the positive team vibes and his impressive performance to helping him to dig deep inside his soul and rise to the occasion when August Martin (1-4, 2-4) needed it the most.
“The energy was different. We came out here, and we were all excited to play with each other,” Lancaster said. “We knew we had to win this game, so we just locked in. I wanted to win this for my brothers; that’s it.”
Falcon head coach Kyle Allen could not stop singing the praises of his signal caller, saying he played like a winner.
“Henry played like a grown man today,” he said. “Our quarterback showed up today. He was on point with his passes. He was comfortable in the pocket, and he stood in there like a solider. And he ran the ball when we needed him to run it.”
Senior David Bennett helped the Falcons draw first blood, hitting paydirt on a 16-yard touchdown run early in the first quarter.
Grand Street (1-4) responded with a screen pass that went for touchdown, and then kicked the extra point to draw to within a point midway through the first period.
But Lancaster tucked the ball away and scored on a three-yard quarterback keeper for a 14-7 August Martin lead at the end of the first quarter.
Again, the Wolves answered with a touchdown of their own and converted the two-point play to knot it up a 14-14 midway through the second period.
Not willing to lay down, Lancaster threw a 36-yard TD to give the Falcons a 20-14 advantage with 3:38 remaining in the first half. Then, senior Rawl Norton ran it in for a successful two-point play and 22-14 lead.
On the defensive side, Norton reached up and batted the ball at the line all the way up into the air, with senior Rowayne McKenzie coming down with it and returning it for a pick-six and a 28-14 advantage with 1:35 left in the second period.
After a quick defensive stop, Lancaster connected with Jaydan Walters on a beautiful 40-yard touchdown strike to push the score to 34-14 with less than a minute to go in the first half. In beast-like fashion, McKenzie bullied his way to a successful two-point rush and 36-16 lead.
But a bad exchange at center caused a Falcon fumble and resulted in a Grand Street safety to make it a 36-16 game early in the third quarter.
However, Lancaster completed a five-yard TD pass to extend August Martin’s lead to 42-16 midway through the fourth period.
August Martin’s Henry Lancaster completes TD pass.
Bennett completed a fine afternoon after returning an interception for a touchdown to seal the lopsided victory for the Falcons.
Allen said the squad overall had a great week of practice, which showed on the gridiron Sunday. But mostly, it had the biggest impact on one particular player.
“Jayden Walters had a very good week of practice,” Allen said. “He made a great catch, and he had nice touchdown later in the game. And he made nice plays on defense and special teams. Jayden had some struggles earlier in the year, but he came to life today. Hopefully that momentum continues.”
After looking like the Falcons secondary could not stop the Grand Street’s pass attack in the first two quarters, they buckled down the rest of the way.
“We were a little shaky earlier on with the pass coverage, but it picked up later on,” he said. “And those were the areas where we struggled the most: throwing the ball and stopping the pass. And we did a better job of it today.”
August Martin travels to Staten Island Saturday at noon to face Petrides.
— Jerry Del Priore
NY NJ Sports World/Brooklyn Sports World 