By Tyler Mayforth
Daily Record Sports
Kyle —
Lehman head coach Steve Davis summed up his team’s 35-13 season-opening loss in four syllables Friday night.
“Embarrassing,” Davis said outside of the Lobos’ locker room. “We never picked it up or were ready to play tonight.”
For the first 20 minutes at Shelton Stadium, Lehman looked like the team that started off last season with four consecutive wins.
The Lobos, whose offense lives on the legs of their running backs, pounded senior Richard Porche and junior Charles Williams at the Crusaders’ line. Porche plowed his way between the tackles while Williams stretched the field sideline to sideline.
Lehman (0-1) relied heavily on Porche and Williams on an 80-yard drive late in the second quarter that ended in an 8-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Matthew Anguiano to Williams. Porche and Williams combined to carry the ball seven times for 45 yards during the 12-play campaign.
“They put us on our heels a little bit,” St. Michael’s head coach Ed McCabe said. “From that point on, we decided the only way they were going to beat us was to throw the football.”
Once the Crusaders (1-0) began stacking the box with seven defenders, it forced the Lobos to put the game in the hands of Anguiano. Unfortunately, Anguiano didn’t seem ready to carry such a burden.
Anguiano tossed four interceptions, including one at the end of the first half that St. Michael’s Brett Carlton returned for a touchdown.
“Routes were open early and we just waited too long to throw it,” Davis said. “They recovered and made the picks on it. You just can’t turn the ball over like that.”
Lehman had its opportunities to get back in the game following halftime, but penalties and fumbles plagued the squad.
The Lobos were flagged eight times in the second half (14 in the game) and never got into a rhythm. When Lehman did move the ball, the Crusaders stripped the ball out of its hands.
“We have a bunch of kids who want to get their hands on the football any way they can,” McCabe said. “We were lucky once the balls got loose that they ended up in our hands. Good players make good plays and that’s what we had out there.”
The Lobos finished with six turnovers (four interceptions) but tried to make it respectable when Anguiano punched in a quarterback keeper from the 1-yard line late in the third quarter.
Lehman will aim to bounce back Friday when it travels to San Antonio to take on Edison.
“Our pride is kind of at stake,” Davis said. “We got to have a good week of work and come back out Friday and get this feeling off our back.”
