Sussex Tech shuts out Lake Forest

By Andy Walter
Posted 10/1/21

FELTON — Grant Allen never planned on make it all the way to the end zone.

It just kind of ended up that way.

When the Sussex Tech High safety intercepted a pass down the middle on …

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Sussex Tech shuts out Lake Forest

Posted

FELTON — Grant Allen never planned on make it all the way to the end zone.

It just kind of ended up that way.

When the Sussex Tech High safety intercepted a pass down the middle on Friday night, he was merely trying to get as many yards as he could on the return. But the junior picked up some blockers and didn’t stop until he reached the end zone 40 yards later.

“My boys, they blocked for me,” said Allen.

On a night when the Ravens posted their first shutout win since 2014, it seemed fitting that a defensive player scored the only touchdown in Sussex Tech’s 10-0 victory over previously-unbeaten Lake Forest on Friday night.

The Ravens (1-2 Class 2A District III, 2-3 overall) dominated the line of scrimmage in winning for only the third time in their last 10 games.

Sussex Tech out-gained the Spartans (1-1 Dist. II, 3-1 overall) by a decisive margin of 349 yards to 59. Lake Forest netted negative-15 yards in the second half.

Before Allen’s touchdown, which came with 8:10 remaining, the only other points came on a third-quarter safety.

“Man, this is a turning point for our season,” said Allen, whose TD was the first of his varsity career. “We had a rough couple first games. Last week we played Woodbridge hard but we didn’t come out on top.”

“Right now, we’re looking for ways to win,” said second-year Sussex Tech coach Brad Ellingsworth. “We know we’ve had a problem with not finishing and imploding. Even tonight, I felt like we had a lot of offensive production but we didn’t put it in the end zone.

“But we feel like we’re turning a page. Tonight was definitely a start.”

In their first four games, the Ravens gave up a total of 137 points. But they blanked Lake Forest on Friday in large part by holding onto the football.

Junior Jaryn Sample ran for 161 yards on 27 carries while senior Erik Reinacher added 132 yards on 18 carries as Sussex Tech dominated in time of possession.

Sussex Tech got the game’s first break when linebacker Jayce Tyler Harmon recovered a Lake Forest fumble at the Spartans’ 29 on the first play of the second half.

The Ravens were eventually stopped on downs but the field position led to Lake Forest lining up to punt from its own 13 a few moments later. The snap went over the head of punter Jalen Morris, who was standing in the end zone, for a Sussex Tech safety and the first points of the night with 6:30 left in the third quarter.

The scoreless first half ended on a heart-pounding play for both teams.

On a play that started at the Lake Forest 15 with 8.6 seconds left, Sussex Tech’s Sample broke free up the middle and looked like he might score. But the big junior running back was tripped up and fell just short of the goal line.

The Ravens were caught between celebrating what they thought was a touchdown and lining up for another play. The clock ran out before they could get set, though.

Earlier in the quarter, Sussex Tech had another chance to score when Reinacher got loose on a 43-yard run. He might have scored but Lake Forest’s Morris ran him down from behind at the Spartans’ eight.

The drive eventually ended on a fourth-down incompletion from the 10 after Lake Forest lineman Ke’Andre Scott made a six-yard tackle for loss.

The Spartans moved the ball at times in the first half, they just didn’t have the ball very much. At one point, a 29-yard pass play looked like it was going to give Lake Forest the ball at the Ravens’ 13.

But a holding penalty against the Spartans wiped out most of the gain.

Sussex Tech ran 34 offensive plays in the first half to only 17 for Lake Forest.

The Spartans (1-0 Dist. III, 3-0 overall) have already surpassed last season’s victory total in a 2-4 season. They were trying to start 4-0 for the first time since 2019 when they opened the season with five straight victories.

Sussex Tech, which is holding Homecoming next weekend when it hosts Brandywine on Friday at 7 p.m., is suddenly a lot more optimistic about the rest of the season.

“We’ve kind of moved some pieces around and changed up how we practice,” said Ellingsworth. “And we really talked about heart and effort. We’ve kind of been a Jekyll-and-Hyde team.

“Against Woodbridge, we played with a ton of heart. We talked about, if we can capture that, and clean up our mistakes, we’re going to take it week by week and see what happens.”

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