Roosevelt ends Lawrence's win streak

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The bus transporting Roosevelt to Lawrence last Saturday afternoon broke down along the way, delaying the Rough Riders’ arrival for a much-anticipated matchup with the Golden Tornadoes. Turns out that the faulty bus was the only thing that would slow down Jude Innocent.

The senior tailback, who transferred to Roosevelt from Brentwood for his final year of high school, rushed for 302 yards on 16 carries and scored five touchdowns to lead the Rough Riders to a 44-14 victory in the Conference III opener for both teams. Senior Marquan Williams scored a pair of touchdowns for Lawrence, which had won 20 straight.

The game was a battle of champions. Both teams came into the season having won four consecutive county titles, with Lawrence also bringing home Long Island Class III crowns in each of the past three seasons. Roosevelt moved up after years of dominating Conference IV.  

Lawrence head coach Joe Martillotti put things in perspective. “For many of the guys, it was their first varsity experience,” he said. “We made a lot of young mistakes. When you have penalties, turnovers, muffed snaps, missed tackles, and poor execution, you’re not going to beat a team like Roosevelt. We’ll get better as the year goes along.”

The Golden Tornadoes marched down the field on their opening drive, and had first-and-goal just inside Roosevelt’s 10-yard line. But sacks by Gianni Knight and Deiondre Barnes on consecutive plays kept Lawrence off the scoreboard.

Early in the second quarter, the Rough Riders opened the scoring with Innocent taking it in from two yards out. The touchdown was set up by a 50-yard pass from junior quarterback Stephen Vailes to Knight down the right sideline. Kicker Desmond Akpanoko, who would convert all six extra-point attempts, made the score 7-0.

On Roosevelt’s next play from scrimmage, after a short punt put the Rough Riders in business at midfield, Innocent went around left end and scampered down the sideline to make it 14-0 with 9:08 to play in the opening half.

Things didn’t get better for Lawrence when on fourth-and-inches a botched snap resulted in a 16-yard loss. On the very next play, Innocent truly announced his presence with authority. The Golden Tornadoes had him stopped for a loss, but Innocent kept the play alive, bulldozed his way through a few would-be tacklers, broke free, made a jaw-dropping spin, and sprinted to the end zone for his third score of the day.

After falling behind 28-0 on the first play of the second half, the Lawrence offense went 70 yards in nine plays with Williams taking it in from a couple yards out. 

The Golden Tornadoes forced a three-and-out on Roosevelt’s next possession, and again Williams found the end zone to close the gap to 28-14. 

Hopes of a comeback were dashed went Innocent went 65 yards untouched to put the game out of reach.

Lawrence will look to start another winning streak when it travels to Division this Saturday for a 2 p.m. kickoff.