Churchill runs down a dream in win over Blue Devils

Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2005

Matt Leemhuis didn’t think it was that easy. And why should he? For five weeks, nothing came easily for the Churchill High football team’s running game.

But there it was, a gaping hole at the line of scrimmage that looked to good to be true. So on a play that the Bulldogs were only trying to convert into a first down, Leemhuis found the end zone late in the first quarter and gave the Bulldogs the only points they would need in a 17-0 shutout of visiting Springbrook during a non-league Class 4A matchup Friday.

‘‘The O-line stepped up,” said Leemhuis, who came into the game with 47 rushing yards and no touchdowns on the season. ‘‘The offensive line stepped up and blocked and I got a touchdown. It felt great.”

It was the beginning of a much-needed night of inspiration for Churchill’s offense, which had struggled to establish the run through the first five games of the season. In fact, in those games, in which the Bulldogs went 2-3, senior quarterback Greg Goldberg threw more (99 attempts, for 611 yards) than the entire backfield ran (88 carries, for 278 yards). It was a far cry from the stellar backfield of last year’s team, when running backs like Travis Schroeder and Kyle Smith and Diego Innecco provided a potent combination that helped the Bulldogs to their first playoff appearance since 1995.

‘‘We just felt our strength was passing,” Collins said about the team’s lack of a running game earlier this season. ‘‘We have good receivers, and we had a quarterback that was hot. Now, we want more balance. It’s easier to run if you can pass, and it’s easier to pass if you can run.”

Churchill (3-3) may have found its answer. The combination of Leemhuis (12 carries, 51 yards) and 150-pound speedster Ray Ferrara (18 for 83) vexed a sturdy Springbrook defense that came into the game with a respectable points-allowed-per-contest ratio (13.4). Ferrara, only a sophomore, was a particular revelation. Although he didn’t reach the end zone, his quickness, cuts and spins confounded Springbrook’s defensive line. His first carry of the game was a 34-yard scamper. Amazingly, he came into the game with a paltry 17 yards on four carries.

‘‘Ray stepped up,” Leemhuis said. ‘‘He had about 75 to 80 yards, and I had about 50. I’m not really a running back, but they throw me in there to get hard-nose stuff and short yardage. I’m glad we’ve got that [combination] because now we have two dimensions. Now, they can’t just play the pass.”

Speaking of passing, Goldberg is quietly putting together a very strong season. With 128 yards and a touchdown on 13-of-23 accuracy Friday, he boosted his six-game totals to 739 yards, nine touchdowns and a 59-percent completion rate. His main downfall is interceptions — he has six, including two in the first half Friday.

‘‘After Monday’s [38-14] loss to Gaithersburg, we died after that,” Goldberg said. ‘‘But we knew we had to have this to stay in the playoff race. We came together this week despite a lack of practice. This was a must-win game.”

After both teams traded turnovers — Springbrook Harold Brantley fumbled the ball on the game’s first play from scrimmage, and Goldberg was intercepted in the end zone on the following possession — Churchill struck with Leemhuis’ run. It came on fourth and 2 from the Springbrook 8-yard line, but Leemhuis found a wide seam on the left side and exploited it for a 7-0 lead. Churchill made it 10-0 when senior Riyad Bandak capped an impressive 58-yard drive in the last 1:25 of the second quarter with a 27-yard field goal.

Churchill’s ball-control offense and stifling defense were the stories of the second half. Springbrook had four possessions in the last two quarters but only ran 13 offensive plays.

It was a frustrating night from start to finish for the Blue Devils, who fell to 3-3 after winning three straight and lost to Churchill for the sixth time in the last seven years. It was also the Blue Devils’ first shutout loss of the season. They only totaled 68 yards of offense, and their leading ballcarrier, senior Derek Overton, amassed just 29 yards on seven carries. Meanwhile, Churchill racked up 310 yards of total offense.

‘‘Their offensive line manhandled us,” Springbrook coach Rob Wendel said. ‘‘They beat us up pretty good on both sides of the ball. I think that was the difference in the game. We were flat.”

Notes: Earlier last week, Brantley, a star baseball player for the school, verbally committed to play baseball at the University of Connecticut.

‘‘He’s got great grades, he was voted captain, he’s a great kid,” Wendel said. ‘‘You want to have 15 more like him.”