SALISBURY —The consensus has been that after a killer non-conference schedule, the Salisbury Hornets would be in good shape when the conference games started. But for the football gods not smiling on Salisbury it almost happened. A fumble on their first possession resulted in an early 7-0 hole. But the Hornets came right back on a 35 yard scramble by quarterback Riley Myers. From then on it was back and forth resulting in a 13-13 tie at the end of the 1st quarter.
The Hornets would regain the lead with 7:06 remaining in quarter number two. But with time about to expire in the half, the highly-favored Golden Eagles of East Davidson would score on the second of receiver Michael Ramos’ three TD catches to knot the halftime score 20-20.
Following a scoreless 3rd quarter, East Davidson would take the lead with an 87 yard pass to Ramos.Mazur’s second field goal would tie it at 26-all.
In one of the strangest plays of the night, Nick Bolen would take a deflected pass in for a 54-yard score. Tim Rhodes would answer for Salisbury, but the point-after attempt was blocked leaving the Hornets trailing by one.
The Hornets would recover an on side kick and drive and drive to the East Davidson 30-yard line. The 47-yard field goal wold miss and a valiant effort would fall just short.
Head coach Ryan Crowder had only praise for the heart that the Hornets. “It was very difficult to lose this game with the great job this team did,” Crowder said.
Ryan Jones rued some key turnovers. Jones also gave credit to the entire team for it’s total effort.