DUNMORE — One last time, Lake-Lehman called Connor McGovern’s number.
And once again, big No. 60 delivered.
After McGovern pushed the center of Dunmore’s defense back into the end zone, Lake-Lehman fullback Luke Hummel followed that path with a one-yard touchdown dive for the Black Knights’ final score.
It didn’t do much to prevent Dunmore from dominating the District 2 Class 2A championship game, where Garrett Murray rushed for 219 yards and two long touchdowns in the Bucks’ 28-13 victory over Lehman.
But it did leave an added memory for McGovern to take from his splendid high school career as he heads off to Penn State next season.
“I know just being a senior,” McGovern said, “from when I came to this program, we definitely left it better than we found it.”
The Black Knights just couldn’t find that elusive District 2 title, losing to Dunmore in the championship game for the second straight season.
The Bucks stung Lehman when Murray raced down the right sideline untouched for a 92-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter, starting Dunmore’s big-play offense in motion.
Fellow Bucks running back Colin Holmes added a nifty 25-yard touchdown run before halftime, then Holmes pretty much sealed the outcome when he ran into a wall of Lehman defenders, suddenly reversed field, and scooted into the end zone on a 15-yard touchdown for a 21-0 Dunmore lead with 10:42 remaining in the game.
“Last year they did this to us, this year they did it to us,” Lake-Lehman coach Jerry Gilsky said. “They got big plays on us. It wasn’t like they were chunking us.”
Lehman had few chances to respond, at least until the very end.
The best hope for the Black Knights came when Trey Borger intercepted a pass in Dunmore territory, and Lehman marched to the Bucks’ 6-yard line when the game was still scoreless.
But a penalty on Lake-Lehman, one the Black Knights felt should have been called on the Bucks, combined to thwart the scoring attempt.
Dunmore regained possession on downs, and two plays later, Murray was off and running with his 92-yard touchdown.
“Some of our guys were just a little short,” McGovern said. “Defensively, they had all blitzes going. Sometimes, we didn’t have enough guys to block their linebackers on the outside. And when we were on defense, I’d get to the backfield and blow somebody up, but their running backs had great vision and got down the field.”
Lehman finally got into the end zone – twice in the final seven minutes – when quarterback Nate O’Donnell followed McGovern’s path for a one-yard scoring sneak and Hummel used the same strategy to score again.
By then, though, Dunmore had pretty much polished off another title with Murray’s 28-yard scoring run with 4:12 to play.
“We had a hell of a season,” said Gilsky, whose Black Knights finished 9-2. “Can’t complain. They bought into our system. Hell of a job. We were playing against a quality program. Eventually, we’ll get there.”
For now, though, McGovern and the departing Black Knights got a trunk full of memories to take away with them.
“I’ll remember everything,” McGovern said, “definitely the love of each player, the friendship, how hard we all worked. Definitely.”
District 2 Class 2A Championship
Dunmore 28, Lake-Lehman 13
Lake-Lehman`0`0`0`13`—`13
Dunmore`0`14`0`14`—`28
Second quarter
D — Garrett Murray 92 run (Pat Orr kick), 8:12
D — Colin Holmes 25 run (Orr kick), 2:31
Fourth quarter
D — Holmes 15 run (Orr kick), 10:47
LL — Nate O’Donnell 1 run (Ian Dawsey kick), 6:53
D — Murray 28 run (Orr kick), 4:12
LL — Luke Hummel 1 run (kick blocked), 1:50
Team statistics`LL`DUN
First downs`10`10
Rushes-yards`47-210`28-306
Passing yards`52`17
Total yards`262`323
Passing`5-10-0`2-7-1
Sacked-yards lost`2-25`0-0
Punts-avg.`4-22.5`0-0
Fumbles-lost`0-0`1-1
Penalties-yards`8-50`9-65
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — LL, Nick Eury 25-194, Trey Borger 13-24, Luke Hummel 6-16, Nate O’Donnell 3- (minus 24). DUN, Garrett Murray 11-219, Colin Holmes 11-83, Pat Reese 3-11, Dominic Mesko 2-3, Jerrod Brown 1-2.
PASSING — LL, O’Donnell 5-10-0-52, TEAM 0-1-0. DUN, Mesko 2-6-1-17.
RECEIVING — LL, Eury 3-17, Borger 2-13, Noah Gorski 1-14. DUN, Holmes 1-12, Noah O’Malley 1-5.
INTERCEPTIONS — LL, Borger 1-0.
