football 1113Blue pursuit with Mogyorosi, Sill, Santiago and Crandall
Two minutes and ten seconds into the Section IV championship game against the Newfield Trojans Lansing Junior quarterback Ben Vincent took the ball 34 yards with blocking help from Thor Wierson and Jake Babcock for the first Bobcat score. Senior kicker Tristan Lyndaker made the successful point after kick and a 7-0 lead. Who needs the NFL Steelers when Lansing has its own version of Big Ben. The team came through to help make it a Big Ben start. Vincent scored additional first quarter runs of 69 and 52 yards.

Down 20-0 early in second quarter and having defensive end Brendan Mogyorosi sack the Newfield quarterback the Trojans called a timeout to regroup. The timeout set up an 87 yard pass play for a much needed Newfield score. Vincent tested his own throwing accuracy with a strike to Lansing wideout Jake Brotherton which set up a 6 yard TD by tailback Jake Babcock. One play after a Lansing fumble Newfield quarterback Arthur Hardison connected on a 52 yard touchdown pass to Joshua Wood to cut the Trojan deficit to 27-14 with over five minutes remaining until half. After exchanging back to back to back fumbles between the two teams in a two minute span the Bobcats Vincent eventually hooked up again on a rollout left with Brotherton and this result was a 23 yard TD and a 34-14 lead at the half.

Lansing won the opening coin toss to start the game and chose to receive the ball to start the second half. Barely a minute into the third quarterback Vincent and Babcock teamed up on a connection for 50 total yards and a early second half score. Vincent would add to his individual point total with a 7 yard run later in the quarter. Sophomore Eric Khan would find just enough room along the Newfield sidelines to dash 40 yards to cap the Lansing scoring for the day. Defensive linemen Nate Sill (fumble recovery), Mogyorosi (13 tackles), and Gabe Santiago (8 tackles) applied pressure all second half. Brad Lehr and Brotherton led statistically with 13 and 11 tackles for the Cats. Mogyorosi had 3 tackles for losses. Vincent supplied 153 of the 330 team rushing yards. Brotherton, Babcock and Carson Crandall each had over 40 yards receiving.

Newfield to their credit scored with their opportunities in the last five minutes of the contest and the final score was a 55-26. The result was the Lansing Bobcats earning the Section IV championship for 8-man football for 2019. This is the first sectional football title for a Lansing team since 2002. Playoff sports this weekend has incredible Lansing representation with girls X-Country, Swimmer Grace Kadlecik, boys Soccer and this undefeated football team.

Next up is the final matchup of the season for 8-man competition. A regional intersectional championship game versus the Ellenville Blue Devils who come in at 6-2. Lansing takes their 8-0 record into the contest that is being held in Kingston, NY at 4pm on Saturday 11/16.

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