Bears struggle against state-rated Crofton

CROFTON — Laurel-Concord-Coleridge played its second district football game of the season against undefeated Crofton on Sept. 22.

The Bears stayed with the unbeaten Warriors for a while, but in the end, the home team remained without a loss, dropping the Bears 72-14 and leaving Laurel-Concord-Coleridge at 2-3 on the season and 1-1 in district action.

The Warriors scored first in the game when Jace Panning broke free on a 41-yard run, and after the two-point conversion run was good, Crofton was up 8-0.

The Bears answered right back as Dylan Taylor and Carter Kvols hooked up on a 17-yard pass play, and after Bradyn Urwiler tacked on a two-point conversion run, the score knotted 8-8.

Panning took off on another lengthy bolt down the sidelines, this one from 28 yards away, and the Warriors grabbed the lead for good 14-8 heading into the second quarter.

Things fell apart for Laurel-Concord-Coleridge in that second frame, and by the time the teams headed to the intermission, Crofton had increased their advantage to 42-8.

The Warriors scored again early in the third to go up 50-8 and set the continuous clock in motion due to the 35-point rule.

Eli Haisch found the end zone for the Bears in the fourth quarter on a 17-yard dash to pay dirt, but the damage had already been done and Crofton ended up with the lopsided win.

The statistics matched the score of the game as the Warriors held the Bears to less than 150 yards in total offense while racking up 3 08 yards on the ground.

Urwiler paced the defense with 10 total tackles; Kvols ended up with eight.

Connor Korth and Walker Stone each had six; Stone had five solo stops.

Jackson Hall tackled a Warrior runner behind the line of scrimmage. Laurel-Concord-Coleridge will hopefully find the waters a bit more agreeable Sept. 29 when the Bears travel to Wakefield to take on the winless Trojans, who are 0-5.