Lynn Burke
08-31-2007, 11:55 PM
Tabb outlasts Grafton 42-28
By Jason Jordan | jjordan@dailypress.com (jjordan@dailypress.com)
YORK COUNTY — Tabb coach Matt Lawson wasn’t worried that his team was facing its crosstown rival, Grafton, in its season opener for the first time in four years without payback as motivation.
\After all, the Tigers finally beat the Clippers after four years of getting rolled by an average of 30 points.
“The good thing about this game is you don’t make yourself motivated,” Lawson said. “The motivation is that it’s Grafton.
Everything we do is to beat Grafton, that’s how it is at our school.”
On Friday they accomplished that goal, rolling past the Clippers 42-28 at Bailey Field.
Corey Legister rushed 14 times for 125 yards and five touchdowns in the win.
“It’s big for us,” said Legister, who is 2-0 against the Clippers since relocating to York County from London before his junior year. “I know it’s a big game, and I always want to do my part. It’s a rivalry that we hadn’t won in a while (before last season).”
The Clippers seemed eager for payback early.
On the first play from scrimmage, Austin Sneath ran through a big hole off of the left side and raced down the sideline for a 71-yard touchdown, giving the Clippers a 7-0 lead.
After forcing the Tigers to punt, Travis Mick and C.J. Ward blew through the line and forced the punter to fumble the snap. Mick recovered the ball in the end zone with 9 minutes, 38 seconds left in the first quarter to give Grafton a 14-0 lead.
“They had two great plays and were blowing us out of the game,” Lawson said. “We didn’t quit.”
A minute later, the Tigers answered with a 32-yard touchdown run from Legister to close the gap to 14-7.
Then Meltoya Jones took Kyle Pelchy’s punt 67 yards down to the Grafton 1-yard line. Legister punched it in a play later to tie the score, 14-14, with 6:08 left in the first quarter.
After another Grafton score, Tabb claimed its first lead with 2:43 left in the first half, when Jones dashed through the middle and up the left sideline for a 62-yard touchdown. Sean Case dove into the end zone on the fake field goal to give the Tigers a 22-21 lead at halftime.
“We were able to run the ball most of the night on them easily,” Lawson said. “We knew offensively that we could do it.”
Sneath left the game early in the third quarter with symptoms of dehydration. He had rushed for 115 yards and two touchdowns.
He left in an ambulance after the game.
The Tigers got a cushion early in the fourth quarter when Legister dove over the goal line for a 1-yard touchdown, extending Tabb’s lead 28-21.
By Jason Jordan | jjordan@dailypress.com (jjordan@dailypress.com)
YORK COUNTY — Tabb coach Matt Lawson wasn’t worried that his team was facing its crosstown rival, Grafton, in its season opener for the first time in four years without payback as motivation.
\After all, the Tigers finally beat the Clippers after four years of getting rolled by an average of 30 points.
“The good thing about this game is you don’t make yourself motivated,” Lawson said. “The motivation is that it’s Grafton.
Everything we do is to beat Grafton, that’s how it is at our school.”
On Friday they accomplished that goal, rolling past the Clippers 42-28 at Bailey Field.
Corey Legister rushed 14 times for 125 yards and five touchdowns in the win.
“It’s big for us,” said Legister, who is 2-0 against the Clippers since relocating to York County from London before his junior year. “I know it’s a big game, and I always want to do my part. It’s a rivalry that we hadn’t won in a while (before last season).”
The Clippers seemed eager for payback early.
On the first play from scrimmage, Austin Sneath ran through a big hole off of the left side and raced down the sideline for a 71-yard touchdown, giving the Clippers a 7-0 lead.
After forcing the Tigers to punt, Travis Mick and C.J. Ward blew through the line and forced the punter to fumble the snap. Mick recovered the ball in the end zone with 9 minutes, 38 seconds left in the first quarter to give Grafton a 14-0 lead.
“They had two great plays and were blowing us out of the game,” Lawson said. “We didn’t quit.”
A minute later, the Tigers answered with a 32-yard touchdown run from Legister to close the gap to 14-7.
Then Meltoya Jones took Kyle Pelchy’s punt 67 yards down to the Grafton 1-yard line. Legister punched it in a play later to tie the score, 14-14, with 6:08 left in the first quarter.
After another Grafton score, Tabb claimed its first lead with 2:43 left in the first half, when Jones dashed through the middle and up the left sideline for a 62-yard touchdown. Sean Case dove into the end zone on the fake field goal to give the Tigers a 22-21 lead at halftime.
“We were able to run the ball most of the night on them easily,” Lawson said. “We knew offensively that we could do it.”
Sneath left the game early in the third quarter with symptoms of dehydration. He had rushed for 115 yards and two touchdowns.
He left in an ambulance after the game.
The Tigers got a cushion early in the fourth quarter when Legister dove over the goal line for a 1-yard touchdown, extending Tabb’s lead 28-21.