Sports

York Narrowly wins annual "battle of the Bridge"

Reporter Makenna Keyes

On September 9, 2019, Gloucester played York in the “Battle of the Bridge”. The visiting Falcons squeeze by the Dukes, 17-13, in a game that came down to the final play.

Due to weather conditions from Hurricane Dorian, the game was moved from Friday, September 6 to that following Monday.

The Falcons started the game off in their favor by winning the opening toss and elected themselves to receive the kick off. Throughout the first quarter both York’s and Gloucester’s offenses were getting frustrated by the defenses who came to play. The pregame predictions had forecasted the game to come down as a one-score difference, which became true.

Gloucester’s defense suffered a key loss early in the game. Defensive end, Dylan Richards received stitches and suffered a mild concussion from a malfunction with his helmet.

Richards said, “as I was making the tackle my helmet fell off and the guy lowered his shoulder and cut me in the face.'' When asked what was going through his head, Richards couldn't remember.

Seen from the stands, after making the tackle, Richards dropped to his knees with his hands in the air in celebration. The trainer, Brittany Croft, and coaches rushed onto the field in consideration of the player. Richards was aided and was taken off the field and straight to the hospital. He is expected back when Gloucester faces off against Phoebus.

Due to this inconvenience, York would score a touchdown but miss the extra point kick, putting York in the lead at 6-0. Before halftime, York was able to kick a field goal pulling further ahead 9-0.

The Gloucester offense continued to struggle in the first half. Though able to drive several times, they could not find their rhythm. To make matters worse, a disagreeable call on a sideline catch by Junior Jordan Mumford did not help the Dukes get the momentum they needed.

In the second half, York came out with fire and scored another touchdown, extending their lead 17-0. An exhausted Gloucester defense did their best to hold off the York offense for the majority of the first three quarters.

In the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Gloucester defense came alive thanks to the pass game. Racing the clock, Gloucester decided to spread the offense to get closer to the red zone thanks to multiple drives by Brandon Pryor.

Junior Malakyi Cooke carried the ball in for a touchdown making for Gloucester’s first touchdown of the season.

With the score now 17-7, Gloucester did an onside kick that the Falcons were not expecting and the Dukes were able to recover the ball with just half of the fourth quarter remaining.

On the first play after, Isaish Lester threw a beautiful pass to Clay Guilliams who then ran for a touchdown untouched. Missing the extra point kick the score was now 17-13.

The Dukes’ defense got another stop and got the ball back in their hands, only to have a pass intercepted. York took the game over by taking to ball to the edge of the red zone with a chance to put the game away for good.

After a series of runs the Falcons were first and goal. The exhausted and tired Dukes’ defense dug in their heels and went to work. Holding York up and forcing a turnover to give Gloucester the ball back with just a minute left.

With the runs of Brandon Pryor and Kaleb Spencer brought the Dukes on the opposite side of the 50-yard line. With no timeouts remaining the Dukes had to spike the ball each play to stop the clock. The clock had six seconds remaining after a reception by Spencer.

With the starting center Mike Greene out due to a knee injury, the backup center snapped the ball too far and sent it between the quarterback’s legs, right as the clock ran out.

Despite this hard loss and a developing record of 0-2, Gloucester’s coaching staff is still expecting their team to travel for the third time to playoffs.