kabarsula Archmere Academy’s defense steps up in football victory over Laurel High School: Photo gallery bandar SLOT INDONESIA

CLAYMONT – Archmere’s football game against Laurel began a bit inartfully, but the Auks put a solid defensive performance together in a 35-14 win on Oct. 24.

Laurel fumbled the opening kickoff, the first of five fumbles between the two teams in the quarter. Four of those resulted in turnovers, but neither team could capitalize.

Archmere forced a three-and-out by the Bulldogs at the start of the second quarter, and they took over at the Laurel 44 after the punt. Quarterback Cole Rafter his Patrick Jalot for a 30-yard gain on first down, and Jalot covered the remaining yards on the next play, going 14 yards up the middle for a touchdown with 11:08 left in the half.

The Auks could not take advantage of a short field after recovering a fumble, and the Bulldogs made them pay. After picking up five yards on their first two plays, Laurel quarterback Micah Niblett found Ashton Ayres-Lucas with a short pass over the middle. Ayres-Lucas turned on the jets and ran the rest of the way for a touchdown, although the two-point attempt was no good.

The Auks built their lead with two touchdowns by Shane Harding in a 31-second span late in the half. The first came on a 41-yard drive. Harding covered the final six yards for the first touchdown with 2:03 to go. Harding, playing defensive back, then stepped in front of a pass and ran it back for a 60-yard pick-6 with 1:32 left.

The Bulldogs moved the ball almost 70 yards in the final 1:26 of the half, with Niblett throwing several short passes and his running backs hitting the sidelines. On third and goal, however, Niblett was forced out of bounds short of the goal line by the Archmere defense as time expired.

On Laurel’s first possession of the second half, the Auks again rejected the Bulldogs on a fourth-and-goal rushing attempt. After forcing the Auks to punt from their own end zone, the Bulldogs capitalized, returning the ball to the Archmere 6. Brynnen Thompson took a direct snap and scored on second down with 45 seconds left in the third.

The Auks used the running game to get that score back. Luke Scott was the workhorse. He nearly broke a long run from the Archmere 49, finally getting tackled at the Laurel 2. Two carries later, he was in the end zone that made it 28-14. The Auks forced a three-and-out, then added an insurance touchdown from Wyatt Beekley on a 10-yard run with 8 minutes remaining.

Rafter ran eight times for 56 yards and threw for 93. Scott ran for 70 yards. Chase Lengkeek led the defense with 13 tackles, and Max Chapman added nine. Archmere (6-1) hosts Tatnall on Oct. 31 at 11 a.m.

The Bulldogs (3-4) host Lake Forest on Oct. 30 at 7 p.m.

Photos by Mike Lang.