The Fredrick Golden eagles took on Lutheran high school last Friday in their first playoff game. Going into The game the Lions had a 8-2 record and the Golden eagles had a record of 6-4. This posed a huge challenge considering the weather,and home field advantage for Lutheran. The weather was very cold with a low of 19 degrees making it hard to stay warm for the players. “It was really cold but when you were running around it took your mind off the coldness a bit”. Said sophomore Reno DiGesualdo. The boys were hyped and excited for this game considering their season and for some of the seniors their entire football career was on the line.
Fredrick definitely did not get off to the start they wanted to as Lutheran got a touchdown on the first two plays of the game. Lutheran had very strong student section which seemed to take Fredrick off their game. Fredrick would then go down for a drive and fail to make a play on 3rd down bringing out punter Colt Hoge. Fredrick down 7-0 Lutheran has the ball back. Lutheran would have a good drive but Fredrick’s defense held them back from a touchdown. However Lutheran would bring out the field goal until to make the game 10-0 Lutheran. Fredrick’s offense knowing they would have to respond to keep their team in the game did exactly that with a great drive starting with a pass from Gavin Ishmen to Jezrel Palma making the game 10-7. The Lions would then go on to score another touchdown making the game 7-17 Lutheran.
Fredrick would head into the second quarter in a good position to tie the game. Ball in Fredrick’s hands at the lions 20 yard line. But Fredrick could not convert and had a turnover on downs. Lions made a sweet pass taking the ball all the way down the field 24-7 lions. Fredrick would respond with a touchdown from sophomore number 12 Colt Hoge on a pass from number 7 Gavin Ishmael, (lions 24-14). Lions would go on to respond to frederick and score another touchdown making the game 31-14 lions. But Fredrick wasn’t going to be fine with going into halftime without another touchdown so they got a late touchdown to make the game 31-24 lions. Both teams scored 14 points each in the second quarter.
Going into the second half of the game Fredrick appeared to come out not as they would have wanted to as the Lions scored a total of 3 touchdowns unanswered in the 3rd quarter. Fredrick would score a touchdown before the 3rd ended to make the score 52-31.
The game just continued to get worse for the eagles as in the 4th quarter the Lutheran would go on to get another 2 touchdowns among. The final score of the football game was 66-37. This was a very hard loss to watch,for some of these players it was their last time stepping foot on a football field again. After the game Fredrick golden eagles took a moment to enjoy the bond these boys created over the season. It was a hard watch to see players cry and for some underclassmen to get the opportunity one last time to see the sensors for taking them under their wings.
