Calvert's woes continue

Cavaliers suffer fourth straight defeat

Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009

Bowman completed 1 of 2 passes for 50 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 111 yards on just 15 carries. The senior also caught one pass, punted and kicked off and tied for the team lead with Raeeqs Dobyns in tackles with nine.

"I like it. I really don't like coming off the field," Bowman said of his hectic on-field schedule. "I'm not selfish or anything but I really don't like coming off the field. It's like my home, my sanctuary."

Thanks to Bowman's heroics against Calvert, the Chargers (5-3, 4-2 SMAC) won back-to-back games for the first time this season.

"Any time you win a ballgame against a pretty tough Calvert team, it's good," Lamb said. "Their record doesn't really show how good they are. We knew this was going to be a very difficult game for us so we're definitely happy to be able to pull this one together."

"We just wanted to play 48 minutes," Bowman said. "[In earlier games], we would come out in the second half and play hard, but in the first half, we'd be slumming."

Meanwhile, the Cavaliers' struggles continue. Calvert (3-5, 2-4), which started the season 3-1, has now lost its last four games.

"We're going to stay positive and keep trying to get better and keep coaching and do the best we can the last two weeks of the season," Calvert head coach Marc Watson said. "The execution of snapping the ball and catching the ball and not fumbling the football and not making the blocks are fundamental things we do every day at practice. We work on them every day and we need to continue to work on them to hopefully finish out the season 5-5. That's the goal right now."

The Cavaliers' Achilles heel as of late has been their offense, which has scored just 12 points over their four-game slide. A touchdown catch by Frank Lanham with just 88 seconds remaining helped the Cavs narrowly avoid a third straight shutout.

"We're a good offense when 11 guys do their jobs," Watson said. "When one or two don't then, you're not going to be successful. We're not good enough offensively at this point to be able to come back from first and 15. We just don't have that capability at this point and it's very frustrating."

But Lackey's defense had plenty to do with Calvert's struggles. The Chargers forced the Cavaliers to go three-and-out the first four series of the game and held them to just 3.8 yards per play. Ten of Calvert's 31 rushing plays resulted in negative yardage.

Lackey opened the scoring on its first offensive series when Bowman tossed a swing pass to Jahrod Coates, who cut and then sliced through the defense on his way to a 50-yard touchdown. The seven-play, 61-yard drive was extended when Bowman gained 20 yards on third and 8.

Lackey extended its lead Dobyns capped a six-play drive with a 2-yard scoring run.

Calvert had a chance to get on the board midway through the second quarter, but Lanham's screen pass on fourth and 4 at the Chargers' 19 was dropped.

"We move the ball down there and then we drop the screen pass," Watson said. "That's a big play."

The Chargers had a chance of their own on the ensuing drive when they put together a 10-play drive, but Bowman's 30-yard field goal attempt was swatted down by 6-foot-2 defensive end David Post.

"We can't kick field goals to save our lives," Lamb said. "[And] we set back PATs about 20 years."

But Lackey added to its 14-0 halftime lead when Dobyns scored his second touchdown of the game — a 38-yard jaunt in the third quarter — to cap a five-play drive.

The Cavaliers put together arguably their best drive of the game — a 7-play, 94-yarder — in the waning minutes of the game. Garner rushed for 35 and 13 yards, respectively, to begin the series and Lanham plowed forward for a 10-yard gain two plays later.

Calvert spoiled the shutout when Lanham out-jumped a pair of defenders and came down with an 8-yard toss from quarterback Ronaz King.

"[Lanham] made a great play in the end zone," Lamb said. "I think if our corner was about three inches taller, he might've had a shot, but he gave it everything he had and that's all I can ask for."

Despite its 26 points, Lamb said his offense still has plenty of room for improvement.

"Offensively we've really struggled," he said. "We're still trying to find an identity."

mreid@somdnews.com