WILDWOOD – Lafayette two-way player Michael Callahan felt somewhat responsible.
As a wide receiver, he was part of an offense that committed turnovers on three consecutive possessions in the second half.
As a safety, he knew the game rested in the hands of the defense.
“I’m on that offense, and that’s partially my fault, so on defense I had to pick up an extra load,” Callahan said.
Callahan scored two touchdowns, and his pass break-up in overtime allowed junior Jake Ference to kick the game-winning field goal as Lafayette defeated Ritenour 24-21 Friday at Lafayette High.
Lafayette (7-1; 3-0), which won its seventh consecutive game, remained undefeated in the Suburban Conference Red Pool and can claim the conference title with a win over Lindbergh (5-3; 2-1) in the regular season finale next Friday.
Ritenour (4-4; 2-2) erased a 21-point deficit on the strength of five interceptions and the recovery of a fumbled punt. When Huskies’ senior Billy Hall capped off an eight-play, 70-yard drive with a four-yard touchdown run, the game steered towards overtime tied at 21.
“Our guys are used to adversity. A lot of these guys are three-year starters and they’ve been in that situation before,” Ritenour coach Yarmon Kirksey said. “All we talked about is pound that rock, and when we started pounding that rock, we got back in the game.”
Ritenour elected to have the ball to begin overtime, which provides each team a possession that starts 25 yards from the end zone. But overtime started in disaster for the Huskies when a fumbled pitch resulted in a 15-yard loss on their first play.
The Huskies soon faced a fourth-and-6 from the 21-yard line. Ritenour senior quarterback Jayden Bennett spotted an available receiver over the middle, but Callahan swooped in and broke up the pass.
“I saw (the receiver) out of the corner of my eye, and thought, ‘I can’t let him catch this,’ Callahan said. “I ran over and hit him as hard as I could to make sure he didn’t catch it.”
Lafayette began its overtime possession with a 19-yard burst from Devon Reese, the longest run of the game for the Lancers. But from the six-yard line, the Lancers committed two penalties and decided to play conservatively for the field goal.
Ference, who had missed a 34-yard field goal earlier in the game, drilled a 30-yarder through the uprights for the game-winner.
“I missed one, so the whole time on the sideline I was thinking, ‘I need another one,’” Ference said. “I’m glad I made it.”
A turbo-clock seemed the more likely destination for a game with a nightmarish, Friday the 13th feel for the Huskies at the start.
After a quick three-and-out, a miscue on a punt attempt placed Lafayette at the 10-yard line. Senior quarterback Jack Behl rolled right and found Callahan along the back line of the end zone to give the Lancers a 7-0 lead less than two minutes into the contest.
“It was a new play we put in yesterday and it turned into a scramble drill,” Callahan said. “I thought, ‘I am too open to drop this,’ so I caught it against my body and just fell to make sure I had it.”
Lafayette senior Zae Jones returned a punt 18 yards to set up another short field, and this time, the Behl-to-Callahan connection was more on script. A quick slant over the middle became a 21-yard touchdown and the Lancers had a 14-point lead.
To begin the second quarter, junior Robbie Preckel made a one-handed, juggling catch for a 34-yard gain, sophomore Terance Bills made a leaping catch for 26 more and Jones polished off a seven-play, 67-yard drive with a six-yard slant.
Behl, who threw for 472 yards in a 48-47 victory over Ritenour last season, began Friday by completing 9-of-12 passes for 130 yards and three touchdowns. Lafayette had outgained Ritenour 144-12 in total yardage and led 21-0 less than 14 minutes into the game.
“Coming into this, we knew not to underestimate (Ritenour) and it was our plan to come out strong right from the start,” junior linebacker Malan Graham said.
Ritenour needed a spark, and the combination of Bennett and sophomore Derrick Smith Jr. provided it.
Facing a third-and-14, Bennett pumped right, turned left, and lofted a perfect pass to Smith down the left sideline for a 31-yard touchdown midway through the second quarter.
Then, the Ritenour defense became a takeaway factory.
Cavion Brandon tipped a pass and snatched it out of the air for his second interception of the first half. One play later, Bennett found Smith along the left sideline for a 19- yard touchdown. It provided the second scoring play in a 1 minute 15 second span for the Huskies and sliced the deficit to 21-14 at halftime.
Barrett completed 20-of-34 for 222 yards and consistently found Smith, who caught 10 passes for 115 yards.
In the second half, Trevion Fondron, Cornell Harris and Derrick Smith picked off Behl passes on successive possessions, with two of the three occurring after Lafayette had driven inside the Ritenour 25-yard line.
“We’d get right to where we needed to be and one accidental mistake would stop us,” Callahan said. “It felt like a one-in-a-million kind of night. Any other night we complete those.”
Behl went 25-of-42 for 302 yards, the fourth time this season he eclipsed 300 yards passing. He came into Friday’s game having thrown 18 touchdown passes compared to just three interceptions.
Thanks to the Lafayette defense, which forced Ritenour to go 0-for-5 on fourth downs, only one of the five interceptions on Friday led to points.
And despite being shutout for the final 34 minutes of regulation, and being a minus-6 in the turnover battle, Lafayette escaped with a victory thanks to a defense that refused to give in.
“On defense we start 10 juniors. We’re together all the time and we like to think of ourselves as the heart of the team. We just click perfectly,” Graham said.
Callahan added, “This win shows how good our defense is.”