Babylon’s Red-Zone Offense Comes Up Short

Grind and pound.

That pretty much summed up Babylon’s offensive game plan against John Glenn on Saturday. But when they needed their power running game to come through most, they were turned away by the Knights.

Down 14 – 7 entering  the third quarter, Babylon took the opening kickoff and, starting from its own 32, marched down the field and eventually faced a first-and-goal from the Knight 7-yard line. But three consecutive runs only got them to the 4. Then, on fourth down, Zach Fredericks’ pass to Jacob Carlock went incomplete. The Panthers never got that close again, losing 21 – 7 to John Glenn (4-0). Babylon fell to 2-2.

John Glenn  scored first on quarterback Richard Czeczotka’s 38-yard run early in the first quarter. The Panther answered right back, scoring on a Grant Shannon 2-yard run. Shannon and Frank Mankiewicz saw the majority of the workload for coach Rick Punzone’s ground-game offense.

But in a game similar to an earlier defeat to Amityville, the Panther’s ball-control offense kept their opponent’s offense off the field for good portions of the game, but couldn’t finish drives. In the fourth, still trailing 14 – 7, Babylon drove from its own 32 to midfield, and seemed to have the Knight defense back on its heels. But a personal foul sent the Panthers back to their own 35 and after Fredericks was sacked back at the 28, the drive stalled.

John Glenn added a late touchdown to finish out the scoring.

Next Game: Babylon travels to Bayport-Blue Point this Thursday, for a 3:30 game against the 0 – 4 Phantoms.