Lions Lose Heart-Breaker to Rival Middletown 13-12

WHS Lions Pride Original Story:

by Ben Johnson

On Friday night the Walkersville Lions football team suffered a gut wrenching defeat at the hands of their arch rival Middletown Knights by a score of 13-12.

1st Quarter

Throughout the first quarter both defenses ruled the day as only one drive made it past the 50 yard line.  However that Middletown drive ended with a fumble that was recovered by Junior Pat Sichete of Walkersville.  The score at the end of the quarter was 0-0.

2nd Quarter

Middletown was able to put some points on the board after a long run put the Knights inside the Lions twenty yard line; the drive ended with Middletown hitting a 24 yard field goal.  Middletown 3-Walkersville 0.

Walkersville’s offense failed to put together a decent drive for the remainder of the first half and Middletown was able to take advantage of that.  The Knights had a long touchdown run by their starting running back Nick Welch late in the quarter that put Middletown up by 10.  The score at halftime was Middletown 10-Walkersville 0.

3rd Quarter

Early in the quarter Middletown fumbled again but this time giving Walkersville the ball deep in the Knights territory.  The Lions were able to capitalize on the great field position and a few plays later senior Collin Bowersox threw a touchdown pass to senior Patrick Cleveland.  But the extra point was no good, so the score was Middletown 10-Walkersville 6.

Following Walkersville’s touchdown drive Middletown used a nice combination of running and passing to put themselves inside the Lions 10 yard line.  But Walkersville’s defense held firm and forced Middletown to kick a field goal which they converted, making the score Middletown 13-Walkersville 6 at the end of the 3rd quarter.

4th Quarter

After Walkersville was not able to move the ball at the start of the 4th quarter Middletown got the ball back and moved into field goal position but the 45 yard attempt that could have sealed the victory was well short.   With a little of four minutes to play Walkersville had a couple of nice runs that got them into Middletown territory.  On a 3rd and 6 at the Knights 43 yard line Cleveland took the handoff and ran it 43 yards into the end zone to make it a one point game.  But the Lions decided to go for the win and they attempted the two point conversion.  Sophomore Chad Gleason’s pass was deflected out of play.

Middletown would go on to run out the clock and win the game by a final score of 13-12.  With the loss Walkersville’s bid for a perfect season comes to an end as their record drops to 3 wins and 1 loss.  Also their losing streak against Middletown was extended to thirteen games and will most likely have to wait another year to finally defeat the Knights.  Senior Michael Maxey said “We really wanted to finally beat Middletown but they simply outperformed us throughout.”