By JOHN JAMES MARSHALL, Journal Sports
Loyola coach John Sella doesn’t buy into the theory of the “trap game,” but there was plenty of evidence that something different was going on Friday night at Leonard C. Barnes Stadium.
No matter what you call it, the Flyers’ game against Booker T. Washington certainly had the markings that something wasn’t quite right with a game against No. 1-ranked North DeSoto looming on next week’s schedule.
Loyola had thrown only one interception in the first seven games; against the Lions, there were four, including a Pick 6.
The Flyers have rarely trailed on their way to an undefeated season and almost every game has basically been decided by halftime (three games that eventually were played with a running clock).
BTW led twice in the first half and had the ball with a chance to take the lead in the middle of the third quarter.
Eventually, the Flyers found the answers they were looking for in a 54-26 win to move to 8-0 and 5-0 in District 1-4A.
They also found out that BTW has plenty of weapons to make you pay.
“That’s a pretty good bad football team that we played with a lot of really good athletes,” Sella said of the Lions (4-4, 1-4). “They had a good game plan. And there were times we could have hung our heads, but we just kept playing.”
They had to.
The two teams spent most of the game trading turnovers and touchdowns. After the third of the four touchdowns running back Mason Drake would score put the Flyers ahead 27-14 and appeared to have a little breathing room in the third quarter, BTW sophomore Javuon Wilkins picked off a pass and returned it 13 yards for a score.
But that would be the last touchdown BTW would score until the final minute of the game. The Loyola defense got three interceptions and held the Lions on downs in the first four possessions of the second half. In total, the Flyers had a season-high five interceptions with Grayson Nunn coming up with two and new starters Avery Smith (free safety) and Dominic Rinaudo (linebacker) each having a pick at the goal line.
“Anytime the offense turned the ball over, the defense had our back and anytime defense gave up a score, the offense had their back,” Sella said. “I told them at halftime to just keep punching. and don’t press. And I really do feel like we did that. We just kept calm and if you listen to the coaches and play as hard as you can, things just happen to go your way sometimes.”
It wasn’t as if the Flyers struggled on offense. Despite the four turnovers – twice as many as Loyola had in the previous seven games combined – the Flyers had 534 yards in total offense. Drake broke the school record for touchdowns in a career with 41 and ran for 147 yards.
Sophomore Charlie McKenzie had his fourth straight 100-yard receiving game (also a school record) with seven catches for 137 yards and a touchdown.
Quarterback Bryce Restovich completed 23 of 33 for 339 yards and three scores. One of those was an amazing touchdown by sophomore Ty Walsworth, who caught a short pass and was seemingly tackled by four Lion defenders. Instead, he kept moving his legs and inching forward and somehow shed all the defenders and raced to the end zone for a 33-yard score. Walsworth was engaged with the BTW defenders for seven seconds before breaking loose.
“He was playing on kind of a bum leg, but he’s just different,” Sella said. “I’d love to be able to take credit for any of that, but he just did it all on his own. I know he wasn’t feeling great, but we needed him, and he said he was good. On that play, he showed that he was.”
BTW sophomore quarterback Davion Stewart came off the bench in the first quarter to throw for 358 yards, completing 19 of 28.
Next up: 8-0 Loyola at 8-0 North DeSoto. So was this a trap game for the Flyers?
“I wasn’t not looking ahead, so I just assume that they’re not either,” Sella said. “But it’s very possible, just judging off how we started slow. I think in all three phases we made big plays when we needed it. You can start to lose confidence when you start slow, but that’s where I was proud that they never did.”
Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com