RallyNorth.net

Owls lose, don't make playoffs

Friday, November, 05 By Jeff Hamrick
Staff writer

 
DOVER — Needing a strong offensive showing in its regular-season finale, Timberlane instead closed out its year with the type of inconsistency the Owls have shown all season.

And it cost them a playoff berth.
One of four teams tied for second in the New Hampshire Division 2 standings, Timberlane could not capitalize on an early-game lead as red-hot Dover did the playoff-spot clinching with a 14-6 victory last night.
 
"We felt good coming in," Timberlane coach Kevin Fitzgerald said. "We like the personnel we had. We expected this type of football game. We knew it was going to be tight and when you get down to this point of the season with two teams fighting for a playoff berth, that's the type of football game you're going to get."
 
Timberlane also had a scare late in the game when junior Mike Lynch was taken off the field on a stretcher and driven to Wentworth-Douglass Hospital by ambulance.
 
"I don't know much right now," Fitzgerald said about his 5-foot-10, 260-pound defensive tackle. "It was precautionary at this point taking him off. It was a back injury. We're just being precautionary."
 
Winning its seventh straight game, Dover (7-3, 6-2) shut down the Timberlane rushing game.
 
The Owls jumped in front early with a nine-play, game-opening drive that covered 75 yards and ended on a 14-yard run by Nick Lawrence. On the possession, Jarred Diorrio hauled in a diving reception for 12 yards on a fourth-down pass from Nate Lawrence.
 
"We came out strong," Nate Lawrence said. "We had people doing their assignments and making big holes. They took it away from us a little bit after that."
 
After that, Timberlane had trouble moving against the Green Wave. The hosts held the Owls to negative yardage on 14 of their 46 rushing attempts and 2 yards or fewer 27 times. Despite running four more plays than the Green Wave, Timberlane gained 90 fewer yards.

Nate Lawrence, the area's leading rusher, was held to 78 yards on 28 attempts. The senior running back finished his season with 1,489 yards.
 
Trailing 7-6, Timberlane did manage a 17-play drive that consumed 9:18, but was stranded at the Dover 15 when it ran out of downs.
 
"We lost rhythm down in the red zone," Nate Lawrence said. "I'm not blaming the play calling or anything, but the line couldn't get any push off."
 
It appeared Timberlane was in good shape early in the fourth when a 43-yard Nate Lawrence punt pinned Dover at its 7-yard line. One play later, however, Joe McKee went 84 yards to set up the Green Wave's final touchdown.