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Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009

Bartholomew, Tattnall down Stratford

Tattnall Square quarterback Ryan Bartholomew’s legs and right arm proved more lethal than the legs of Stratford Academy’s Marquez Lemon on Friday night in the GISA Region 2-AAA showdown of rivals.

Bartholomew had 185 yards in total offense and a hand in all of Tattnall’s points to negate Lemon’s 233 yards rushing and two touchdowns as the Trojans held on for a 28-19 victory at Stratford.

“His head was in the game from the start,” Tattnall head coach Barney Hester said of his senior quarterback. “He threw the ball well and ran the option well. He was outstandings.”

Bartholomew had touchdown passes of 20 yards to Blake Garrison and 47 yards to Ham Goodner. He also had touchdown runs of 1 and 89 yards and added a two-point conversion pass.

“The line did a great job of protecting me, and the backs and receivers ran routes perfectly,” Bartholomew said Bartholomew.

The Trojans, who had 260 yards rushing and 366 total, finished the regular season 8-2 and 3-0 to win the region title and earn the top seed in next week’s first round of the playoffs. Tattnall will play John Milledge at home on Friday.

“When you’re not expected to (win the region), it’s really nice,” Hester said. “People wrote us off early in the year, but we’ve gotten better and better. We just have to continue to do that.”

Stratford’s fifth straight loss to its rival and ninth in the past 10 years dropped it to 4-6 and 0-3. The Eagles, who totaled 368 yards, will enter the playoffs as the fourth seed.

Bartholomew had the Eagles in catch-up mode from the outset, ending the first possession of the game with his pass to Garrison. He converted Hunter Wilkinson’s recovery and 14-yard return of a Lemon fumble to the Stratford 4-yard line into a 14-0 lead on the first play of the second period with his sneak and following conversion toss to Andrew Layson.

The teams then traded turnovers with Lemon, a fleet junior who carried 28 times, getting the Eagles within 14-7 at halftime on a 72-yard jaunt two plays after Layson fumbled at the Stratford 20.

Bartholomew wrapped things up for Tattnall in the third quarter with his rollout pass to Goodner midway through the period and the sprint to the end zone off an option on a third-and-5 from the Tattnall 11.

“He ran the waggle really well and was able to find the right receiver,” Hester said of the pass to Goodner, who was wide open in the middle of the field.

On the option, Bartholomew broke a couple of tackles and the line, then stepped out of Chris Geeslin’s tackle attempt around the Stratford 15.

“I saw him over my right shoulder,” Bartholomew said of Geeslin, who scored Stratford’s other touchdown on a 23-yard pass from John White just more than a minute before Barthomew’s game-clincher. “I knew I had to outrun him.”