Digital Harbor edging Patterson in suspended football game
Digital Harbor football coach Keith Rudolph was not too happy about the lightning that kept flashing in the distance during the Rams’ football game Saturday night against Patterson at Poly’s stadium.
The Rams had a 21-14 lead with 8:01 left in the third quarter when the game was suspended. Patterson was about to punt on “fourth-and-a-mile” as Rudolph put it, but the lightning would not stop.
With a rule in place that requires a 20-minutes wait after you see lightning or hear thunder, the teams waited about 45 minutes before the game had to be suspended.
Rudolph and Patterson coach Corey Johnson said the lights at Poly are on a timer that automatically shuts them off at 10 p.m., so there wasn’t enough time left to finish the game. The game will be resumed Monday at Poly at a time yet to be finalized.
“It was extremely tough (to have the game suspended), because Patterson is a great team … and we just wanted to get this one,” said Rudolph, whose team finished 1-9 last season while the Clippers were Class 4A North regional finalists.
“We wanted to wait it out, but the lights go out at 10 o’clock, so it was just one of those things. We had to call it. At that point, I just wanted to get the game over with. I thought our kids had the momentum and that we could pull it out. You never know what’s going to happen Monday. We have a lot of respect for Patterson.”
Saturday night after Patterson pulled within 15-14 with 15 seconds left until halftime, Digital senior running back Marquiese Walker ran the ensuing kickoff back 80 yards for a touchdown and a 21-14 Rams lead that dashed the Clippers’ momentum.
Even though they only played only a little more than half a game, the Rams showed tremendous improvement over last season when the Clippers steamrolled them, 64-20.
Rudolph, in his second season as coach, said some additional players who had been academically ineligible last season have helped make a difference.
“We had to build from within,” the coach said. “We had to get our academics together. We had quite a few athletes around the school, but they weren’t eligible. We had to go back to the drawing board, deal with the academics and build from there. Since we were able to do that, we’ve got some good talent back in good standing.”
In addition, Rudolph said the Rams’ JV is starting to produce talent and this team is senior-laden with 14 12th graders providing maturity and leadership as the Rams matched last season’s win total with a season-opening 26-7 victory over Sparrows Point.
Another boost comes from senior quarterback Dominic Barnes, who played Pop Warner football as a kid, but who had concentrated on basketball at Digital Harbor the past few years. Barnes, who has had no academic issues, is on the team for the first time and Johnson said he makes a big difference.
“He’s really a dynamic player,” Johnson said. “He broke a couple 60-yard runs on us and he’s
tough to stop.”
For the Clippers, coming off a 20-13 season-opening win over Archbishop Curley, Monday’s continuation could be a challenge, because they likely will be without their own dynamic quarterback, Craig Oliver. The senior suffered some badly bruised ribs in Saturday’s first half.
“He came out at the end of the second quarter,” Johnson said, “but the medic cleared him to go back in. He was hurting, so we probably won’t have him to finish it.”
The continuation is tentatively set for 3 p.m. Monday at Poly, but Patterson may have a conflict that could change game time. Check back later for an update.
