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In the end, all coach Rick Conner and the Linganore football team could do was exhale and be thankful there were more points on their side of the scoreboard. In a mistake-filled game that saw two of the top teams in Frederick County combine for nine turnovers and 19 penalties, the Lancers rose to the occasion enough times on both sides of the ball to grind out a 24-14 road win over Thomas Johnson on Friday night. Senior running back Kevin Myers ran for 186 yards and three touchdowns on 29 carries to lead the way for Linganore . "Little muscle man did a great job," Conner said. "We're proud of him. He's getting tough yards for us." The Lancers improved to 9-0 despite a litany of uncharacteristic mistakes. They turned the ball over five times and were penalized eight times for 65 times. Yet they managed to overcome four lost fumbles, including two right before the ball crossed the goal-line, and two penalties that wiped away touchdowns. To top off the unusual night, Linganore only attempted three passes in the entire game. "Hey, not a lot of teams drop 24 points on those guys," Conner said. "They've got a great defense. They hit you. They are physical. Our kids did a great job. I am proud of our kids. Very resilient. We needed a game like this. Helps you get ready down the road." TJ fell to 5-4 overall and will likely need to beat Frederick next Saturday to ensure itself of a spot in the Class 4A North playoffs. Mistakes continue to haunt the Patriots. They turned the ball over four times and were penalized 11 times, including eight in the first half. Coach Ben Wright was tossed out of the game for protesting a call, which was part of a wild sequence in the last four seconds of the first half. The Patriots scored both of their touchdowns in the second half. Junior defensive back Richard Newman returned a Zach Zwinak fumble 80 yards for a touchdown and Nick Forbes scored on a 16-yard run in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter. "It was crazy," Newman said. "Both teams kept pounding on each other, but they came out on top." Zwinak, a Penn State recruit, ran for 198 yards on 13 carries, but he lost three fumbles, including two on plays where it appeared he was going to score. The first of two Nick Marth interceptions gave Linganore the ball on the TJ 6-yard line midway through the first quarter. Zwinak took the handoff up the middle on the first play of the drive and was stripped by a fellow Division I recruit, Forbes, right before he crossed the goal-line. Then, following Newman's touchdown, the Lancers started the drive on their own 13. On the first play, Zwinak took a handoff over the left side and broke free down the sideline. He had made it 84 yards before he was caught from behind inside the TJ 5-yard line. The ball came loose and the officials ruled it went out of bounds in the end zone, creating a touchback for TJ. The Linganore coaching staff believed the fumble was caused by the ground, which would nullify it, and the ball went out of bounds before it went into the end zone. "Obviously, they practice forcing fumbles in practice because they were good at stripping it," said Myers, who also lost a fumble to Forbes, a California recruit. "We had to bounce back from it. We couldn't let it get to our heads." Linganore jumped out to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter on touchdown runs of 4 and 18 yards, as well as a 25-yard field goal by Alex Eckard. Myers added a 2-yard scoring run with 2:24 left in the third quarter. Following an interception by Michael Johnson in the final two minutes of the second quarter, Linganore took over on the TJ 31-yard line, looking for more points. However, Marth was sacked on a third-down play and Eckard would have been facing a long field goal with four seconds left in the half. But TJ was called for holding on the play, which wiped out the sack. It was the sixth penalty of the half for Patriots, who reacted emotionally. One unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was followed by another on Wright, who came out on the field to give the officials an earful. They threw him out of the game. At that point, Eckard was facing what amounted to a chip-shot field goal. But the Lancers decided to fake it and Marth, the holder, took off around the right side and went into the end zone. But Linganore was called for holding on the play. TJ was forced to take the penalty because declining it would have made the touchdown stand. This gave the Lancers an untimed down. Eckard attempted a 27-yard field goal but pushed it wide, capping a wild sequence in a wild game.
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