In front of a capacity crowd at Gerry Gray Stadium the JC Patriots overcame a 13-3 deficit at the half to defeat the Edgewood Rams 17-13. "The kids never gave up" said Head Coach Keith Rawlings, an Edgewood graduate. The Rams came out on fire and scored on the first series to go up 7-0. JC answered back when Sr. Eric Hart kicked a 35 yard field goal to make it 7-3.

The Rams put together another strong running attack and scored on a run to go into the half 13-3. "We were flat and just couldn't finish our drives", said Offensive Coordinator Rich Stichel.

 

 "It would have been easy to roll over at the half, Edgewood had us on the ropes", said Rawlings. We told them in the locker room "It's up to you guys, lets see what kind of character we have". "We came out a different team in the second half". The defense shored up and the Pats held the Rams scoreless for the remainder of the game. "We kept coming at 'em", Defensive Coordinator Tim Perry said. "We got great support off the bench to give our starters a rest". Linemen Sr. Colin Blakely and Sr Jack Luttrell really stepped up. Jr Steve St.Clair had his first sack of the year for a 15 yard loss. St.Clair had one and half sacks on the day and lead the team with 15 tackles. The Rams were forced to punt two plays later and the JC offense responded. JC put together an 11 play 62 yard drive to score. Soph Malcolm McMillan scrambled 14 yards for the TD. McMillan had 25 yards on 3 carries for the day. On the next series JC drove 56 yards on 7 plays, capped off by a six yard score by Von Paris. "I told Von Paris at the half, I'm putting the ball in your hands", Said Stichel. Von Paris responded with 114 rushing yards on 18 carries and one TD for the day. Hart connected on both PATs.

"We wanted to keep their offense off the field, that was our plan", said Stichel. Late in the game the JC defense was called to duty once again when the Rams took over on the JC 23 yard line. Behind Soph Tyler Ray (11

tackles) and Sr. Ryan McGrath (10 tackles), the defense stood firm and JC recorded it's second win of the season, 2-1 overall. After the game both teams met on the field to honor thru prayer, the life of Elizabeth Johnson who succumbed to cancer recently. Elizabeth is the wife of Coach Chris Johnson, Offensive Coordinator-Edgewood.  Next week the Patriots travel to division rival Severn, 1-3. The game is Friday at 4:00.