L-P commits costly penalties in loss to Metamora

METAMORA – After a disastrous first half in which it managed only one first down and two offensive yards, La Salle-Peru was still within two scores.

And early in the second half, the Cavaliers grabbed the momentum but ended up falling short in a 16-8 loss to the Redbirds in a nonconference game at Malone Field to fall to 1-1 on the season.

Down 16-0, L-P defensive back Caleb Burrell intercepted a pass on Metamora’s first drive, and the Cavs finally got their offense going, marching 88 yards on 15 plays to pull within a touchdown. Burrell intercepted another Redbird pass, and the Cavs seemed to have fully grabbed the momentum.

However, when Billy Mini ran for a long gain on fourth down on the ensuing drive, the Cavs were whistled for a holding penalty, then an unsportsmanlike conduct that led to a player ejection and pushed L-P back for fourth-and-25, forcing a punt.

From there, the Cavs went three-and-out and three-and-out.

“It wasn’t pretty on the offensive side,” L-P coach Jose Medina said. “Defensively, we fought hard. I’m proud of the boys for fighting. They did a lot of good stuff, but ultimately, we shot ourselves in the foot. We just had bad penalties that really, really hurt us.”

The Cavs couldn’t get any offense going in the first half. L-P went three-and-out on its first drive but caught break when the punt hit off a Metamora player and L-P’s Antonio Rodriguez recovered, but the Cavs went three-and-out again.

L-P went three-and-out twice more before earning its first first down of the game on a 13-yard run by quarterback Brendan Boudreau with a little more than five minutes left in the opening half. That drive, however, ended with a botched snap on a punt that led to Maalik Madrigal being tackled for an 18-yard loss.

Metamora quarterback Kaden Hartnett scored on runs 4 and 16 yards as the Redbirds took a 16-0 lead at halftime.

The L-P defense forced a four-and-out and kept Metamora from scoring despite the Redbirds starting on L-P’s 15-yard line after the bad punt snap.

To start the second half, Burrell intercepted the pass, but L-P was called for unsportsmanlike conduct and started at its own 12.

The Cavs ran the ball 13 times and mixed in two passes – completions of 12 and 18 yards – with Rodriguez capping the drive with a 3-yard TD run. Boudreau hit Mini for the two-point conversion to pull L-P within eight with 1:53 left in the quarter.

“It’s all about heart,” Medina said. “We know when it comes to this offense you have to drive, you have to get going and you have to push. Those kids came out ready to go. It helped we got that interception. It was a good drive we put together and they actually wanted it.”

After penalties killed the next drive, the offense didn’t get going again, and L-P did not get a final chance after Hartnett ran for 17 yards on fourth down with a little more than a minute left, allowing the Redbirds to kneel to run out the clock.

The L-P defense held the Redbirds to 145 rushing yards and 78 passing yards.

“Defensively, for the second week in a row, we played pretty solid,” Medina said. “Adding those two guys (Connor Lorden and Warren Mrowicki on the line) helped out a lot. They really caused pressure.”

The Cavs were whistled for 16 penalties for 165 yards.

“They were stupid penalties,” Medina said. “Ultimately, we’ll clean that up and get better. We have to move on to next week.”

Peyton Ellermeyer had 44 rushing yards on 14 carries to lead the L-P offense, which finished with 78 rushing yards and 30 passing yards.

L-P travels to Woodstock North in Week 3.