Bishops falter in first round against Lake Marion

The Bishop England Battling Bishops were handed a crushing first round loss by the Lake Marion Gators 26-21. After blown penalties and a lot of turnovers, it all came down to an onside kick that simply didn’t fall to the Bishops.
Down 26-14 in the fourth quarter, the Bishops absolutely had to score. After a few no call penalties, the Bishops turned that ball over on downs. But, soon after, the Gators fumbled the ball and BE recovered with a short field. After a first down pass to Chandler Garrett, quarterback Leo Albano looked for him again in the end zone. Garrett was blatantly held while the ball was in the air. Garrett called for penalty, but was instead instantaneously flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. Despite the bad break, the Bishops drove down and scored with just under two minutes to go.
It came down to an onside kick for Adam Mikulski. The Bishops did everything to recover, but the ball ended up out of bounds and Lake Marion gained possession and ran out the clock.
This year is the Bishops last year in Class AA. They move into AAA next year.
The Bishops will graduate both of their starting receivers, Chandler Garrett and Cole DiFilippo, center Blake Jeresaty, fullback John DeStefano, defensive lineman Jeremy Ward, outside linebackers Ross Miller, Jacob Hand and Danny Kiernan, and defensive backs Khyle Mingo and Blakely Epps. Yet, a majority of the team will return, including quarterback Leo Albano, who is just a sophomore, and running back Jake Mock, who is a junior. In fact, after the game, Coach Cantey mentioned a multitude of players returning players for next season, “We have a lot of guys with a lot of experience coming back next year!”