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Londonderry falls just short of upset

Saturday, October, 09 By Chris Smith
Staff writer

MANCHESTER — On a first-and-goal play with 1:15 remaining, Manchester Central’s defense delivered a crushing blow and Ben Mills recovered the Londonderry fumble at the Little Green 2.

Just like that the upset was averted and Londonderry fell 28-23.

Sean O’Gorman had touchdown runs of 15 and 24 yards in the first half. He had rushed for 94 yards and had made two big catches on that final drive to set up the first-and goal play. He also made an important stop defensively in the second half. Playing linebacker, he dropped KK Haliburton for a 1-yard loss on a fourth-and-three play.

Manchester Central took a big risk with 1:57 remaining. Instead of punting deep in their own end of the field, the Little Green decided to take a safety and then free kick to Londonderry.  

The safety made it a five-point game instead of a seven-point game, meaning a Londonderry touchdown would have won it.

Londonderry returned the free kick to the Little Green 44.

Four straight complete passes by Vinnie Parilla for 42 yards gave the Lancers the football at the Central 2.

But then O’Gorman fumbled.

“The ball got away from me,” O’Gorman said. “I didn’t have a good grip on it. That’s it.”

Parilla credited the Little Green defense.

He said, “It was just a messed up play. It was suppose to go up through off-tackle or outside toward the end. Since they have two linebackers, I am supposed to pick up one of them, but one of them comes through free. I picked up one of them. The other one came through and, I guess, knocked it loose. He came through hard. He put his head on the ball.”

Little Green quarterback Jared Chandler completed 14 of 16 passes for 169 yards and one touchdown.