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Football: Simeon tops Fenger without Gregory
Updated: November 14, 2011 10:39PM
With Arkansas-bound quarterback Robert Gregory sitting out for a violation
of team rules, Simeon needed someone else to step up on Monday night.
That person turned out to be Paris Ratliff, who scored special-teams
touchdowns on a fake punt and a kickoff return to help the Wolverines hold
on for a 33-28 win over Fenger in a Public League semifinal at Gately
Stadium.
“We work on it a lot in practice,” Ratliff said of the fake punt. “I knew I
messed up a couple of plays so I had to bounce back and help my team.”
Simeon (9-3) will play Harper (10-2) Saturday at noon at Gately for the
Public League championship and a berth in the Prep Bowl against the Catholic
League winner.
Ratliff’s first big play was a 33-yard touchdown run on a fake punt that put
Simeon up 21-6 with 5:32 left in the second quarter. That was still the
score a minute before halftime, but Fenger (7-5) scored twice in the final
31.5 seconds to pull within 21-20 at the break.
The Titans went ahead 28-20 on Darrion Boone’s second touchdown pass to
Darius Jones, a 14-yarder with 8:35 left in the third quarter. But Ratliff
ran the kickoff back 78 yards for a score to make it 28-27 and he went 20
yards on another fake punt to set up the go-ahead score, a five-yard run by
DaRell Thomas with 1:37 left in the third.
Thomas (24 carries, 137 yards) also had a one-yard touchdown run and backup
quarterback Elcee Burke ran 14 yards for a score for Simeon.
Fenger also had an eight-yard touchdown pass from Boone (11 of 27, 152
yards) to Jones, a three-yard scoring run by Tavin Allen and a 13-yard
touchdown pass from Boone to Maalik Harlan.
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