Gwynn Park gains crucial victory with blocked punt

The loss snapped Friendly’s 22-game winning streak and 25-game winning streak in the regular season. The Patriots entered last week as the No. 1-ranked team in a poll of statewide reporters. Coincidentally, Gwynn Park was also the last team to defeat the Patriots in the regular season, 13-12 in overtime on Sept. 24, 2005, and has beaten its Fort Washington rival three of the past four seasons.

‘‘It’s a win,” said Gwynn Park coach Danny Hayes after the game. ‘‘It’s all about hope. We took this one from the best team in the state.”

The normally defensive-minded teams combined for 63 points, but also four turnovers each, which led to 31 of those points. And the equally as offensive-minded Patriots, averaging 38.9 points a game, were statistically dominated in rushing yards (262-152), total yards (328-257) and first downs (11-8). Friendly also hurt itself with 110 penalty yards. The Patriots were 0 for 5 on conversion attempts after touchdowns, missing a kick and failing on four two-point tries. Friendly blew an 18-0 lead at halftime and a 30-20 cushion with 6:06 remaining.

‘‘The emotions are always going to be crazy with Friendly-Gwynn Park, regardless of the score,” said Friendly senior tailback⁄safety Lamaar Thomas (Ohio State). ‘‘We lost to them in my 10th-grade year. But this is much different. This is my senior game, my last game here. It hurts, it hurts real bad.”

Emotions were everywhere, whether it was the jam-packed Friendly side of the field that was enjoying homecoming festivities or the bands from each school performing non-stop all game. On the field, the game was a dramatic seesaw battle, with countless stoppages of play due to injuries and even a bench-clearing brawl at game’s end that brought security coming from everywhere to restore peace. But the most defining emotions came in the final 53 seconds, moments after Gwynn Park pulled to within 30-26 on sophomore Kahlik Shepherd’s 31-yard touchdown run.

Gwynn Park failed to recover an onside kick, but the Yellow Jackets’ defense forced Friendly into a three-and-out, and the Patriots punted from their own 38-yard line. Gwynn Park junior LaVaughn Hughes led a charge toward Friendly punter Maureal Peacock. Hughes not only blocked the punt but also recovered the loose ball, setting up Gwynn Park at the Patriots’ 3-yard line. It was the first time Friendly had allowed a blocked punt in three seasons.

Two plays later, with no timeouts and only seven seconds remaining, Shepherd scored the winning points from one yard out for his fourth touchdown of the game.

‘‘It’s overwhelming,” said Shepherd, who had a game-high 154 yards on 22 carries. ‘‘I knew I was going to get the ball. I had two hands on it. I already knew I was going to score. We just knew from the beginning [on that last drive] that we were going to pound the ball into the end zone. Nothing was going to change, It was power football for Gwynn Park.”

Hughes made the critical block despite back and hip pain after taking a hard hit earlier while playing quarterback.

‘‘Coach told us we really needed a block and I said ‘All right, I’ll get it,’” said Hughes. ‘‘There was only one man back. I gave him a move and he came in, and it gave me a free shot at the punter. I went up and blocked it.”

‘‘I think the biggest play of the game was the blocked punt,” said Friendly coach George Earley.

And two plays later, the bigger play was Shepherd’s final touchdown. Had he been stopped, time would have run out on Gwynn Park.

‘‘We were going with Khalik [on that final drive],” said Hayes. ‘‘We told our line, everything we worked on all summer long, dealing with the weight room, has to come out right now.”

Now at 6-3 overall, a victory on Saturday against Frederick Douglass could be enough for Gwynn Park to secure a 2A South Region playoff berth.

‘‘I’m just glad to get the opportunity to get it in,” said Shepherd. ‘‘This game is special to me because it’s my first four-touchdown game. This is the best feeling ever.”

‘‘I think in the second half, the momentum changed, and we didn’t pick it up where we left it [in the first half],” said Earley. ‘‘We can’t blame nobody but us. We didn’t play to win. You can never stop playing to win. You just can’t play a game. You have to play to win.”

Senior Josh Haden led Friendly with 106 rushing yards and three touchdown runs.

E-mail Adam Rubenstein at arubenstein@gazette.net.