By TIM TAYLORTioga County Sports Report
LANSING — The bad news — mistakes proved costly in Spencer-Van Etten/Candor’s 38-15 Section IV Football Conference loss to Lansing Friday evening. The good news — the majority of those miscues can be fixed.
Four holding penalties and a block in the back cost the Eagles 101 yards gained, including a 52-yard touchdown. Two sacks and a pair of high snaps tagged SVEC with an additional 47 yards in losses.
Also plaguing the Eagles was poor tackling on several plays, which helped the veteran Bobcats (25 seniors and juniors on their roster) find the end zone six times.
“There were a lot of momentum killers,” SVEC coach Jared Wayman said. “We had a few high snaps. We had a few holding calls that were away from the play. It was just undisciplined football. It's Week 0. You're going to have those things.
“It's no excuse. We need to be better at that. We've practiced better at that, but I think we've understood from the game what we need to work on next week.
“The kids held their heads high. I'm not into moral victories really, but I think we've learned a lot and we can look forward to Dryden next week.”
One of SVEC’s bright spots was running back Logan Aman, who carried the rock 17 times for 174 yards, including touchdown runs of 42 and 63 yards. His first TD came two plays after his 52-yard TD run was called back on the block-in-the-back penalty.
Lansing scored on the game’s opening drive with Jaxson Mayo taking it in from the one. Jared Hall’s kick made it 7-0 with 8:50 on the clock.
On the Eagles’ first possession, a holding penalty negated a 26-yard and an interception at the Lansing 49 squelched a drive.
SVEC held the Bobcats to two yards for a three-and-out, but sputtered on a 54-yard drive to the Lansing 34.
Mayo ran and threw for 64 yards on the host’s ensuing 67-yard drive, capping it with another 1-yard run for a 13-0 lead with 5:43 left in the second period.
A high snap dinged the Eagles on their next possession and Mayo accounted for 62 of the Bobcats’ 55 yards on the next drive (a holding penalty accounting for the variation in yardage) and he threw to Dasch Benson for a 31-yard score with 1:21 to go in the half. Hall’s kick gave Lansing a 20-0 advantage at the break.
SVEC was flagged for 17 yards on a hold and lost 10 more on a sack on it’s first possession of the second half. Lansing used those gifts to push the lead to 26-0 on Dominick Smith’s 13-yard near the midway point of the third quarter.
Another holding penalty hurt the Eagles on their next possession and the Bobcats scored on Korbin Lovejoy’s 4-yard run to build a 32-0 cushion with 2 ½ minutes to play in Q3.
SVEC was finally able to respond, however, as Charlie Hilbert returned the kickoff 26 yards to his own 48. Aman followed with a 52-dash down the right sideline, but the TD was nullified by a penalty, bringing the pigskin back to the Eagles’ 45. Foster picked up 13 yards on the next play, then Aman followed with another sideline dash, this one for a 42-yard TD. Logan Cody split the uprights with the PAT kick to make it 32-7 with 27 ticks on the third-period clock.
After the teams exchanged punts to get the fourth quarter going, SVEC again shooting itself in the foot with a hold, the Bobcats drove 59 yards with Logan Mayo scoring on a 10-yard run to make it 38-7 with three minutes remaining.
The Eagles returned the kick to their own 43, but a high snap pushed them back to the 28. Cody picked up nine yards on a pair of runs, then Aman did another sideline dash, this one covering the final 63 yards. Foster’s PAT run made it 38-15 with 20 seconds on the clock.
SVEC finished the game with 214 yards offense. Lansing racked up 344.
Wayman feels repetition will help the eagles fix some of the issues..
“I think a lot of week 0 is nerves,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of guys going both ways. Probably fatigue, so we're going to work on conditioning a lot this week. I've been stressing that in two-a-days, because we don't have a lot of guys on the roster.
“We have a lot of seniors. We have a lot of juniors. They're tough kids.They're built for this ironman football. We're just going to work on more team offense, more team defense, batten down the hatches, and we're going to get ready to go next week. We're going to look forward in the window and not the rear view.
The Eagles visit Dryden next Friday.
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IN TOP PHOTO: SVEC defenders bring down a Lansing ball carrier. ... IN SIDE PHOTO: SVEC’s Logan Aman. ... PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
