Towson Tramples Dulaney 27-12

On a sloppy day and facing a dynamic running attack, Dulaney High School head varsity football coach Jeff Mann was feeling pretty good heading into halftime of Tuesday's home matchup against Towson. His squad, trailing 13-6, was within striking distance of the Generals and had turned the game into a 24-minute contest.

Unfortunately for the Lions it's hard to come back when your opponent holds the ball for 19 of those final 24 minutes.

That's exactly what the Generals did, getting four touchdowns from senior running back Damon Jones – two in each half – and outgaining the Lions by more than 100 yards in the second half to pull away for a 27-12 victory and improve to 2-1 on the season. Towson ran 36 offensive plays over the final two quarters compared to Dulaney's 11.

Fullback Michael Obineme, who missed Towson's loss to Pikesville last week, was the workhorse, lugging the ball on 23 of those plays and piling up more than 100 second-half yards. Quarterback M.J. Preston operated the offense efficiently, adding more than 60 yards on the ground for the Generals, who did not throw a pass in the second half.

"They have a fullback who is really good and they block really well for him," Mann said. "Their quarterback executes fakes very well, gets the ball to the outside and is a very good runner. They are just a good team offensively."

Dulaney kept the contest close in the opening half thanks to a first-quarter touchdown by sophomore running back Chris Davis. The Lions were able to hold their own in the battle of field position thanks in part to a long punt from a spread formation when they were backed up in their own end.

Towson set the tone early in the second half, forcing Dulaney to go three and out on its first possession and then putting together the first of two time-consuming scoring drives that put the game out of reach.

The Generals went 70 yards in 13 plays, consuming 6:43, on their first possession, with Obineme totaling 47 yards on nine carries and Preston adding 22 yards. Jones capped the drive with an easy one-yard sweep for a touchdown, pushing the Towson lead to 20-6 with 3:01 remaining in the third quarter.

Dulaney managed a first down on a 13-yard completion from sophomore quarterback Dre Lewis to Davis on its next drive, but was soon forced to punt, setting up a 15-play, 80-yard drive by Towson that used up 8:52 and ended with another sweep for a TD by Jones. The point after put the Generals in front, 27-6, with 5:16 left in the game.

The Lions wouldn't go down without a fight, however. They nearly kept Towson out of the end zone, stopping Obineme twice from the one before Jones' score, and then needing just three plays and 41 seconds to drive 57 yards and cut the lead to 27-12 on a deflected 18-yard touchdown pass from Lewis to junior wideout D.J. Foster with 4:35 left.

Two completions by Lewis and a 27-yard run by junior Chris Conway highlighted the spirited drive. Lewis ended up completing five of his six second-half pass attempts for 54 yards and a touchdown. That fact, along with the defense standing tall on the goal line and halting Towson's final drive on downs, was not overlooked by Mann.

"Our kids play with effort," he said. "You can never fault them for that. But Towson today played with more productive effort and deserved the victory. The better team won today. It wasn't so much that they stopped us, but that we stopped ourselves. We just didn't execute on offense like we can."

Dulaney, which dropped to 1-2 with the loss, returns to action Saturday, Sept. 25 at home against Kenwood at 1 p.m.