MERRY HILL – They came within a foot of making it interesting.

Trailing 14-6, Lawrence Academy drove to the one-foot line before they were stopped by Word Of God Christian Academy on fourth down.  Fans were left to wonder if a score there might have made a difference.

Maybe not, but it would have made it interesting.

The visiting Holy Rams (7-0) rolled up over 420 yards of offense with five touchdowns in the first half alone and won their seventh game of the season with a 46-6 win over Lawrence on Homecoming Night in Merry Hill.

Jesse White passed 28 yards to Clint Thompson for Lawrence’s lone touchdown while Travis Whitehead finished with 81 yards on 16 carries and Cade Larabee added 56 more on the ground.

Thompson got some extra glory on the evening as he was named the Homecoming King during halftime ceremonies, with Ashley Raynor named as Lawrence’s 2010 Homecoming Queen.

“We had a pretty good first quarter”, said Warriors coach Robert Kravitz. “They had a good game plan, but once they realized we were better than a 1-and-6 team then they brought their A-game and their A-game is tough.”

Word of God scored on their first possession before the Lawrence Homecoming crowd could get settled in good, going 64 yards one play after the opening kickoff and with the point-after led it 7-0.

Lawrence then put together a solid ground attack that ate up plenty of clock on their opening drive.  The Warriors went for it twice in the drive on fourth down and were successful with Larabee weaving in and out of the Holy Rams defense.

However, on the Warriors’ third attempt on fourth down, Word of God stopped them just short of the red-zone at the Holy Rams’ 30-yard line.

Taking over in Lawrence territory, Word of God looked for another quick strike. The Holy Rams ran three quick plays; but on the fourth play, quarterback DeMetri Washington fumbled and the Warriors’ Thompson fell on it at the 28-yardline.

After Larabee got back only to the line of scrimmage, Kravitz went to the air as White hit Thompson at midfield.  Thompson put a spin move on the Holy Rams defender and weaved his way through the defensive backs 72 yards to the endzone. The two-point conversion failed, leaving Lawrence a point shy of a tie at 7-6.

Word of God wasted no time striking back with Quentareus Yarborough going 72 yards on the first play from scrimmage for a score and a 13-6 lead after the kick was missed.

Word of God attempted an onside kick, but the ball rolled out of bounds near midfield at Lawrence’s 44-yardline.  A Larabee run followed by three quick sprints by Whitehead got them into Holy Ram territory at the 34-yardline.

Lawrence kept up the ground game and picked up a first-down on a Whitehead run to the 10-yardline.  Three more plays got them to the one-yardline, but on fourth-and-goal from the one, Lawrence was stopped a foot shy of a possible tie.

Word of God turned on their high -powered running game and marched the 99 yards for their third score and never looked back from there; leading it 34-6 at halftime after two more scores.

Penalties and miscues played a part in keeping the Warriors out of the endzone in the third quarter as one drive was paralyzed by a pair of holding calls and on another, White was intercepted at midfield.

Meanwhile, Word of God scored two more touchdowns.

In the fourth quarter, Word of God put the brakes on and the game ended on a bizarre play as Drew Phelps went down with a severe arm injury making a tackle.

“They weren’t giving up throughout the game,” said Word of God coach Kevin Washington, nodding toward the Lawrence huddle after the game. “They were on the field and they let us know they were there to play.”

“They probably would have still turned it on,” mused Kravitz, “but at least for a while it would’ve been a different game.  My hat’s off to them, they were a well-coached team.”

Lawrence (1-6) travels to Lasker next Friday to face Northeast before closing out the regular season October 22 at home against Hobgood.

(By Gene Motley, Sports Writer)