St. Mark's Game

The Mavericks traveled to the Big D and put together a big game to tame the Lions of St. Mark's on their home turf. St. John's took the opening kickoff and Ben Griffin was able to get it out to the 28 yard line where the offense took over. The Mavericks waisted no time by going 72 yards in 8 plays with the bulk of the load carried by quarterback Chris Gow who finished off the final 30 yards with a run to the endzone. Dan Tweardy tacked on the extra point and SJS had the early lead 7-0. The Defense took the field next and started their reign quickly handing the Lions a three and out and forcing a punt in which Ben Griffin returned for 17 yards. Gow again made good on the next drive completing a fourth and six pass to Wes Wallace to keep the drive alive. Dan Tweardy then took the ball on the pitch from Gow and raced 25 yards for the score increasing the lead to 14-0. The Lions then hit a 22 yard pass on their second play but John Michael sacked the QB on the next play and with a holding penalty the Lions where facing a second and twelve. The Defense then forced two incompletes and the Lions had to punt. Griffin again with a punt return of 13 yards gives SJS the ball at their own 27. Gow and Co. went to work taking the ball all the way to the St. Mark's 7. A fumbled handoff kept the Mavericks from adding another score and the Lions got lucky and made the recovery on their own 5 yard line. St. Mark's then hit two passes in a row but on the third pass Grayson Crady stepped in front for the interception to end the first quarter. Dan Tweardy took over with a 30 yard run which turned out to be a 40 yard gain when the Lions were flagged on the play for a face mask penalty. Gow took the next play 10 yards for the score. The PAT failed and the Mavericks increased the lead to 20-0. The Maverick defense playing tough and and not letting St. Mark's get into any kind of rythym forced another punt which put SJS in good field position at their own 41. The offense kept up their rythym and proceeded to march the ball down the field with Nathan Avery pounding inside, Tweardy handling the ball on the outside and Gow making the decisions went 59 yards in 10 plays making the score 27-0. Tweardy put the ball in the endzone for the touchback on the kickoff and the Lions took over at their own 20. St. Mark's found some rythym on their next drive going 13 plays and getting the ball down to the 2 yard line but the SJS defense held them out of the endzone and on fourth down the Lions chose to kick a field goal against the solid SJS defense to put some points on the board 27-3. The Mavericks scored again on the next possession with Gow hitting Risher Randall for a 51 yard strike and the score. St. Mark's hung in there finally getting acroos the goal line with 6 seconds left in the half for the halftime score of 34-10
The Maverick defense started the second half with an interception by Morgan Bernard giving the offense the ball on the SMS 23. Chris Gow ran the next three plays then got the ball to Dan Tweardy on the fourth and an 8 yard score to bring the total to 41-10. After two more change of possesions the Lions musterd up another score to try and close the gap 41-17 to end the third quarter. To start the fourth both teams were held to punt then the Mavericks QB put the icing on the cake as Gow busted loose on a 49 yard run to finish the scoring at 47-17. St. Mark's tried one last time to get some points but the stout SJS defense as they had done all night said nay on that idea and gave the ball to the offense to run out the clock for the decisive victory!