5- 0 Falcons soar over Cardinals
By George Kaupp

Photo by Jim Marczesky Ben Lippen's Ross Fleming (r) goes high to deflect a pass away from Cardinal Newman's Alex Nutt.

The Cardinal Newman Cardinals thought they did everything right Friday, September 21. They rushed for over 200 yards. They ran 69 offensive plays, twice as many as Ben Lippen. The Cardinals held the ball for 36 minutes, three times as long as the Falcons. They had no fumbles or interceptions. But they couldn't beat the Falcons where it mattered most- the scoreboard. Ben Lippen scored on four different drives of five plays or less, none of which took over 2:03, and defeated the Cardinals 29- 6 at Cardinal Newman.
Ben Lippen 29
Cardinal Newman 6

The Falcons (5-0, 1-0) were paced by senior quarterback Kyle Williamson, who completed 8 of 12 passes for 187 yards and four touchdowns. The first score came less than 40 seconds into the game when Williamson hit sophomore Mitchell Deter for a 25- yard score. After three punts ended with the Falcons pinned at their own 8- yard line, Williamson took four plays to lead Ben Lippen to the end zone again, the final call being an out route to senior John Montgomery, who broke a tackle and raced to a 67- yard score.

The Cardinals (2- 3, 0- 1) did not give up and responded with an 11- play drive that culminated in an 18- yard touchdown run by Davis Lemon. Lemon rushed for 118 yards on 28 carries.

After an exchange of punts, Ben Lippen took over on their own six and worked the ball down the field quickly, setting up first- and- goal with just over a minute left in the half. But the Cardinal defense held, stuffing Falcon running back Emmanuel Hightower just outside the goal line, and the Cardinals went into halftime trailing 14- 6.

The momentum from the goal- line stand carried over into the third quarter. The Cardinals held the ball for almost seven minutes, but were eventually forced to punt. A bad snap forced the punter to fall on the ball at the Cardinal 30, and the Falcons struck on the next play. Williamson hit senior Rob Brigman for another touchdown, and the Falcons ran a trick play on the extra point, with the holder flipping the ball over his head to kicker Jonathan Cochrane, who easily ran the ball in for two.

The Cardinals tried to get back into the game, but were forced to punt again, which was blocked. Ben Lippen took over on their 49, and five plays later Williamson and Montgomery hooked up again. After the extra point, it was 29- 6.

Cardinal Newman mounted one last drive, converting a pair of fourth down plays, but the Falcons held them out of the end zone on fourth down from the nine, and the game ended with the Falcons running out the clock.

Ben Lippen hosts Heathwood Hall on Friday September 28, while Cardinal Newman hosts Hammond.