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09-21-2013, 10:08 AM
Manual football coach Oliver Lucas says "great players make great plays,'' and he saw his tailback, Michael Nero, make one to stun Ballard 14-7 Friday night at Manual Stadium.
Nero, a junior, broke out of a crowd of blockers and tacklers to get loose on a 62-yard touchdown run with 19.1 seconds left in the game. Despite running on a field drenched during a downpour in the second quarter, Nero gained 248 yards on 42 carries and scored both of his team's TDs.
How did he break free when it looked as if he would be tackled for a short gain and the game surely would go into overtime?
"He got loose because he's a really great player,'' Ballard coach Mike Jackson said. "The way he runs, it takes more than one person to take him down. We just relaxed.''
"The football gods were smiling on us because we beat a good team,'' Lucas said after his Crimsons improved to 4-0.
Nero, who had 163 yards on 19 carries in the first half, had an answer for his heroics.
"My offensive line really blocked well,'' he said. "Jake Rist put a guy on the ground. I broke several tackles and all I saw was green in front of me to the end zone. But without our defense, our offense couldn't have done what we did. Our defense was lights out.''
Ballard (2-3) scored first when defensive back De Doss picked off a pass by Manual quarterback Mason Motley and ran down the sideline 25 yards for a first-quarter score.
Manual tied it at 7 on a 1-yard run by Nero on the last play of the first quarter.
The Crimsons, who lost to Ballard 21-0 last year when Nero played quarterback, marched from their own 31 to the Ballard 1 in 17 plays before free safety Derek Strasser broke through and tackled Nero for a 5-yard loss on fourth-and-goal.
"We ran a toss and they came on with a safety blitz,'' Nero said.
"He's a heck of a player,'' he said about Strasser, who blocked two punts besides his tackle on Nero near the goal line.
"At the 1-yard line we didn't block right,'' Lucas said. "We coaches take responsibility for that. We should have audibled on that for the safety blitz.''
Ballard got its passing game going when there was a dry spell in the second half and reached the Manual 21, but Rist tackled David Daniels for a 6-yard loss, and a completed pass by quarterback Rex Wallace went for a 5-yard loss.
Asked if he was tired after carrying the ball 42 times, Nero replied, "I am a little bit. I've got water in my shoes, but I had to do what I had to do to get the win.''
He now has 607 yards and seven touchdowns on 96 carries in four games this season.
Ballard 7 0 0 0 - 7
Manual 7 0 0 7 - 14
Ballard - De Doss 25 interception return (Rijad Kovacevic kick); Manual - Michael Nero 1 run (Spencer Satterly kick); Manual - Nero 62 run (Satterly kick).
B M
Total yards 64 279
First downs 6 10
Rushes-yds. 21-4 48-234
Comp-Att-Int 12-21-1 5-10-1
Passing yards 60 45
Fumbles-lost 4-3 1-1
Penalties-yds. 8-50 4-25
Punts-avg. 4-36.0 2-16
http://lms.usatodayhss.com/louisville/ar...d-football
Nero, a junior, broke out of a crowd of blockers and tacklers to get loose on a 62-yard touchdown run with 19.1 seconds left in the game. Despite running on a field drenched during a downpour in the second quarter, Nero gained 248 yards on 42 carries and scored both of his team's TDs.
How did he break free when it looked as if he would be tackled for a short gain and the game surely would go into overtime?
"He got loose because he's a really great player,'' Ballard coach Mike Jackson said. "The way he runs, it takes more than one person to take him down. We just relaxed.''
"The football gods were smiling on us because we beat a good team,'' Lucas said after his Crimsons improved to 4-0.
Nero, who had 163 yards on 19 carries in the first half, had an answer for his heroics.
"My offensive line really blocked well,'' he said. "Jake Rist put a guy on the ground. I broke several tackles and all I saw was green in front of me to the end zone. But without our defense, our offense couldn't have done what we did. Our defense was lights out.''
Ballard (2-3) scored first when defensive back De Doss picked off a pass by Manual quarterback Mason Motley and ran down the sideline 25 yards for a first-quarter score.
Manual tied it at 7 on a 1-yard run by Nero on the last play of the first quarter.
The Crimsons, who lost to Ballard 21-0 last year when Nero played quarterback, marched from their own 31 to the Ballard 1 in 17 plays before free safety Derek Strasser broke through and tackled Nero for a 5-yard loss on fourth-and-goal.
"We ran a toss and they came on with a safety blitz,'' Nero said.
"He's a heck of a player,'' he said about Strasser, who blocked two punts besides his tackle on Nero near the goal line.
"At the 1-yard line we didn't block right,'' Lucas said. "We coaches take responsibility for that. We should have audibled on that for the safety blitz.''
Ballard got its passing game going when there was a dry spell in the second half and reached the Manual 21, but Rist tackled David Daniels for a 6-yard loss, and a completed pass by quarterback Rex Wallace went for a 5-yard loss.
Asked if he was tired after carrying the ball 42 times, Nero replied, "I am a little bit. I've got water in my shoes, but I had to do what I had to do to get the win.''
He now has 607 yards and seven touchdowns on 96 carries in four games this season.
Ballard 7 0 0 0 - 7
Manual 7 0 0 7 - 14
Ballard - De Doss 25 interception return (Rijad Kovacevic kick); Manual - Michael Nero 1 run (Spencer Satterly kick); Manual - Nero 62 run (Satterly kick).
B M
Total yards 64 279
First downs 6 10
Rushes-yds. 21-4 48-234
Comp-Att-Int 12-21-1 5-10-1
Passing yards 60 45
Fumbles-lost 4-3 1-1
Penalties-yds. 8-50 4-25
Punts-avg. 4-36.0 2-16
http://lms.usatodayhss.com/louisville/ar...d-football
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