By Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

Everything could have gone just right for Foster's football team, beating the foe. The Bulldogs had enough opportunities to do so, no doubt, but everything just went wrong in a 20-7 loss to the Lindbergh Eagles in a game the Bullogs led at one point, and, being at home, under the lights, in front of screaming fans, Friday night.

"We were there, we had the scheme, we had the play, we just didn't make it," said Matt Leonard, Foster head coach, whose team fell to 2-2 in the Seamount while Lindbergh upped its record to 3-1.

So just what went wrong?

Plays.

Big plays, on offense and defense. The Eagles made more big plays.
The Eagles scored first with 1:08 left in the first quarter on a drive that started at their own 34-yard line with 6:20 on the clock. They went 13 plays for a two-yard touchdown, with the two-point conversion no good.

The Bulldogs got the ball, but they didn't go anywhere on offense its second possession of the first quarter, kicking it on fourth down, just seconds into the second quarter.

The Eagles, on first and 10 from their own 36-yard line with 11:48 left in the second quarter, went for a quarterback bomb pass play 30 yards down field. And the Bulldog defense like senior safety, and captain Patrick Saau and sophomore safety Kevin Le, in the secondary last line of defense were back there to shadow the Eagles' receiver. And, those two were back there defending passes all game long, really, along with others like junior defensive back Josh Lemaota. The Bulldogs did very little wrong covering the pass this game, with the Eagles' lone touchdown catch of the game coming on a semi-spectacular one-handed grab amongst a crowd of defenders in the second quarter.

Then, Foster had the ball on first and 10 from its own 33-yard line, and the school's quarterback, 5-9, 160-pound sophomore Zane Jacobson threw an incomplete pass to a receiver that was pretty open. The very next play, on second and 10, Leonard called QB Jacobson's number again, throwing a lateral pass to 5-9, 185 senior Anthony Noa, who caught the ball and looked to be hit right about five yards down the field. But Noa kept churning his legs and wrestled himself from the first tackler and another right after that en route to the end zone for a 33-yard touchdown.

"I didn't want to go down," said Noa. "I just had to push myself, keep going. Then, right after the first guy hit me, I got hit by a second guy and I jumped over him. I knew I was going to the house after that."
Great determination there, and it was the kind of big play, at a time in the game that could have been back-breaking to a team playing on the road, like the Eagles were doing.

After Jalal Haji made the PAT, the Bulldogs led, 7-6, with 11:16 left in the second quarter on this two-play drive, going 33 yards in 21 seconds.
The Eagles took possession of the football next, and the Bulldogs defense did well, forcing a punt three plays later. And, with 9:03 on the clock left to play in the second quarter, the Bulldogs got the ball back, again, and, unfortunately, didn't take advantage of the momentum in its clutches, going three downs and punting.

Lindbergh's a seasoned team and doesn't win nearly as much as Kennedy in the Seamount, but no one is close to the Lancers in Seamount League championships the last two, three decades, or, longer, but, Lindbergh won the Seamount last year and in 2009, so it's a pretty good second to the Lancers as far as that goes.

True to their winning form in this league, the Eagles were not going to sit back. They would take back that momentum with a big-play drive, getting the ball at the 7:33 mark of the second quarter and marching down the field in 11 plays, 4:55 time of possession. But, the touchdown that came at the 2:38 mark of the second quarter didn't come without the Bulldogs nearly having stopped it halfway through the drive.

On the sixth play of the drive, the Eagles were at a second and six from the Bulldog 35-yard line and on the play the Bulldogs' big offensive lineman, Zane Galoia, a senior center and captain, was chasing the scrambling Eagles' QB in the backfield some 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage. And within inches of having his mitts on Anthony Hill, the Eagles' QB, Hill somehow found a way to pitch the ball by Galoia's outstretched arms to a running back, who caught it and ran six yards for a first down.

Then the Eagles moved the ball to the 29-yard line of the Bulldogs on the next play, with Saau making a nice open field tackle too, likely saving a touchdown with the rusher having a lot of daylight if he got by Saau.

Then a Bulldogs face-mask penalty added insult to injury, with that putting the Eagles at a first and 10 from the 13-ard line with 2:59 left in the second quarter. But the defense was strong, as Noa tackled the runner for a 1-yard loss and that set up a second and 11 from the 12-yard line and Saau made a tackle for an eight-yard loss.

So, the Eagles were sitting at third and 19, from the 23 yard line, having been pushed out of field goal range, likely, because their kicker didn't make any of the PATs in this game, to note. But, that's when the Bulldogs needed to tighten up the 'D' and stop the Eagles from scoring.
And, as the Bulldogs fans started shouting, "Defense. Defense. Defense...," something good did not happen.

On third and 19, Eagles QB Hill hit Devon Jackson in the middle of the end zone for the nice one-handed grab of the ball, amid defenders. And, after a botched hold on the PAT attempt, the Eagles looked done for on scoring a two point conversion, but they were lucky. The kicker stood up with the ball and threw it to an open receiver in the end zone for a two-point conversion. So the Eagles led, 14-7, over the Bulldogs going into halftime.

To note, Foster came into this game as the leading rushing team in the Seamount, according to their coach, Leonard, but, in this game their leading rusher, Alvin Noa, had two carries for four yards in the first half. And Alvin's cousin, Anthony, carried the ball one time for no yards.

And Lanier Jacobs had the second longest rush of the game for his team, for eight yards, but, that was the only rush he had all half. And the second half rushing the ball for the Bullogs would be nearly as unproductive as the first half.

Leonard put that onus of plays not being made, unproductive offense, and not stopping Eagles runners defensively, on the whole team.
"We weren't physical, and got beat up up front (on the line)," said Leonard. "That simple. Just got to be physical."

In the second half the Bulldogs got the ball first, to start the third quarter, and, that's why a lot of times coaches who win the toss defer getting the ball the first half. They want to get it the second when the game is, hopefully, close and momentum can be swung in their team's favor with a big play drive to the start things out.

But that didn't happen, as after Jacobson ran four yards on a QB keeper play, the next play Jacobson fumbled a snap and Lindbergh recovered the ball.

Lindbergh then could have done something with the ball, but the Bulldogs' defense shut him down with excellent pass coverage on first down by Lemaota, Saau and Noa with an interception of Hill's throw, on fourth down.

So the Bulldogs were given a chance to tie the game up, only being a touchdown down, with the ball first and 10 from their own 28-yard line with 10:11 left in the third quarter. But, after a nice two yard and 12-yard run by Alvin Noa, the next play was an interception thrown by Jacobson as he missed his open receiver a second time in this game.
Now, to Jacobson's defense, the Bulldogs' QB hurt his elbow on his throwing arm in the previous game against Highline. And Drew Jorgensen, who came in for the injured Jacobson against Highline for nearly three quarters of play, threw for two touchdowns in that game against the Pirates the week before the Lindbergh game. So Jacobson, who made a nice couple QB keeper running plays in the game for a few yards each and the TD pass, just now had missed to open receivers in a game that was so close, a game of inches, really, as the cliche` goes.

"Zane tried to play through injury, and gutted it out, but he was not quite himself," said Leonard. "Zane told me he could go. He's a captain. I trust him."

But that interception would prove costly to the Bulldogs in the momentum department, as the Eagles scored a touchdown on that pick.

So it was 20-7, Eagles, with 9:07 left in the third quarter.

Foster got the ball back and on first and 10 Anthony Noa, finally, got a good running play to go with his nice receiving TD catch earlier in the game, rumbling for 21 yards. That made it first and 10 from the 31-yard line, and Jacobson threw another pass as Leonard kept confidence in his quarterback and on this play it looked like a wise move as Jacobson's throw was catchable. But the receiver dropped the ball, having it go off his fingers.

"This is a game of inches," said Leonard. "And they fought harder for the inches.

We just weren't executing, on both sides of the ball," said Leonard.
And, although the Eagles' receivers were within only a couple catches in the game for 50 yards, including the one TD pass-catch play, the Eagles rushed for over 150 yards between them. That's what really hurt.
"Just didn't finish the plays, with low pad level and finishing tackling the ball carrier," said Leonard.

The Bulldogs were limited to 50 yards rushing from 20 carries of the football total, by Lanier Jacobs, Alvin Noa, Anthony Noa, Freddie Roberson and Jacobson combined.

"We did not give up a touchdown in the second half," said defensive coordinator Fritz Martin, on the coaching staff of Leonard. "The whole defense played tough."

So the defense was not as much as at fault as the offense in this one?
"We have to go down as a team," said Martin. "We need to ride it out as a team."

So, things went back and forth with possessions into the fourth quarter, with neither team scoring any more points in this game.

Talking to Anthony Noa afterward, he could have put the frustration on his offensive line because he's ran for 100 yards in games this season, as has his cousin, Alvin. He, in fact, said anything but that.
"I want to thank my offensive line for blocking hard as they can, even though we lost," said Noa.

Offensive line guys are Keith HIll, Samatar Ahmed, Justin Salete, Juan Ochoa, Zane Galoia and let's repeat what Leonard's mentioned before, that the Bulldogs came into this game against the Eagles as the leading rushing team in the league. That doesn't come without a good, hard working offensive line blowing holes open for the runners.

Noa knows that his quarterback made some mistakes in this game and wasn't his best, from injury problems and not throwing like he normally can do.

"He shouldn't let that sail into the next game, I know he can pass the ball," said Noa.

And the defense kept playing hard, like Martin said, not allowing a second-half touchdown.

"Just tried to keep the negative side away and keep it positive, not let up, get the ball back," said Noa.

nd, to the game's ending, the Eagles were on their last drive and Martin was still gathering the defense together and pumping them up.

"Suck it up, get the ball back," Martin was shouting from the sidelines, with 1:30 left to play. And, on third an four for the Eagles, they got a first down and that's what Martin kept preaching, "Get the ball back."
And, the Eagles, maybe, could have tried scoring with 1:09 to go in the game on first down but just decided to take a knee and run out the clock.

Maybe that's because the Eagles thought that if they ran plays the Bulldogs, who fought all game long, to the very end, especially fighting hard in the second half defensively, would have got the ball back.
"I am proud of our football team," said Martin. "We have got to keep fighting. This is a grind."