Harriman MS tops Wartburg

By GOOSE LINDSAY

rcsports@bellsouth.net

The Harriman Middle School Blue Devils ran their season record to 4-3 overall with an exciting 20-14 victory at Wartburg.

Thursday’s contest with the Bulldogs was a seesaw affair as Harriman scored the first touchdown of the game and then the last two to pick up the six-point victory.

Most of the scoring came in the first half as the two teams battled their way to a 14-14 tie at intermission.

Neither team did much on their first possession, but Harriman got the first big break of the game when Devin Franklin fell on a loose ball at the Bulldog 30 to end Wartburg’s second possession.

Harriman scored six plays later on a six-yard run from Lucas Lunsford to make the score 6-0 with 6:39 left in the first half.

Casey Coon helped set up the score with a 19-yard run.

Harriman’s two-point try was no good.

Lunsford’s score sparked a run on touchdowns as the next 5:12 of game time would see three more touchdowns scored.

Wartburg tied the game at 6-6 with four minutes to play in the half when Adam Susak scored from 34 yards out to cap a five-play, 54-yard drive.

Wartburg’s two-point try was no good.

Harriman fumbled on their own 37 to end their next possession and it would take the Bulldogs only three plays to make the Devils pay for their mistake.

QB Brett Robinson hooked up with Derrick Richardson for a 36-yard gain then Susak scored on a six-yard run after a motion penalty.

Robinson threw to Westley Morgan for the conversion that gave the Bulldogs a 14-6 lead with 1:27 left in the first half.

Eighty-seven seconds didn’t seem like a lot of time for the Harriman offense to mount a drive, but it proved more than enough as the Devils used a Lunsford 44-yard run to spark a three-play, 50-yard scoring drive. A pair of penalties threatened to kill the drive before Lunsford found the end zone from 12 yards out with 38.1 seconds left in the half.

Lunsford also ran in the conversion to tie the game at 14-14.

Wartburg nearly had enough time to find the end zone once again before intermission.

With 11.2 seconds left in the half, Wartburg had the ball on the Harriman 47. From there, Robinson hooked up with Henry Taylor on a perfectly executed middle screen. Tay-lor rambled all the way to the Harriman eight where the Bulldogs spiked the ball to stop the clock with 2.4 seconds to play.

Wartburg, however, did not find the end zone on the final play of the half as Robinson’s pass fell incomplete.

The frantic scoring pace continued at the start of the second half.

Coon opened the second half with a 34-yard kick return that gave the Devils a first down at the Bulldog 27. Lunsford scored seven plays later on a one-yard run that made the score 20-14 with 4:44 left in the third period.

Harriman’s two-point try was no good.

While the teams combined for five touchdowns in less than 10 minutes, the defenses suddenly came back to life.

The teams would exchange punts on their ensuing possessions then the Bulldogs fum-bled at their own 49 with 4:17 left to play.

From there, the Blue Devils were able to pick up three first downs and grind out the rest of the clock for the victory.

Harriman amassed 199 yards of total offense on 43 plays, all runs. Lunsford was the workhorse as he carried the ball 28 times on the night for 143 yards with three touchdowns.

Wartburg had 146 yards of total offense on 23 snaps.

Robinson was 3-4 through the air for 81 yards while Susak led the ground attack with 40 yards and two touchdowns on only three carries. Melhorn added 36 yards rushing on 10 carries.