The Johnson City football team lost to Holland last Friday by a score of 45-14. The Eagles fell to 2-5 overall and 0-2 in district play with the loss.
Holland (6-1 overall, 2-0 district) returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and scored a two-point conversion for an 8-0 lead just 15 seconds into the game. The Hornets finished the first half up 22-0. Johnson City opened the third quarter with a touchdown just 10 seconds in and scored another in the fourth quarter, but ultimately dropped its fifth straight game.
“I think every game we do good things,” JC head coach Nelson Kortis said. “It’s just that we don’t do it for our entire game. There are times where we do stop them and make plays and there’s times where we are capable of playing a lot better than we are.”
Friday’s contest in Holland saw Wyatt Lorenzen start at quarterback for the second time in the last three games as Max Lechow deals with an injury. Against Holland, he threw two touchdown passes but wishes for more in the future.
“I have to work on getting out of my head and just throwing the ball up,” Lorenzen said. “I got awesome receivers, so if I throw it up, they will catch it, so I just have to work on my head and my little mistakes that I make in the pocket.”
Johnson City’s defense had some struggles during the game against Holland, but came up with a few key stops as well. The defense surged at the end of the first quarter and into the second, where a dropped punt by Johnson City gave Holland a fresh set of downs in a short field. When pushed firmly against the wall, the Johnson City defense stood up and got the stop to get Lorenzen and the offense another chance to chip away at the Holland advantage.
Following Johnson City’s first touchdown, scored just 10 seconds into the third quarter, the defense held Holland back and forced the ball back into Johnson City’s hands just three minutes later.
“Sometimes we did some good stuff,” Kortis said. “There’s some things that we need to fix within ourselves to understand that we have to play better and execute better and keep those games close.”
Three games remain on Johnson City’s regular season schedule. Thorndale (4-3, 0-2) will pay a visit to Johnson City this Friday after having lost its first two district games. The Eagles then travel to Mason before hosting Harper to wrap up the regular season slate.
If Johnson City wants to make it to the playoffs, snapping its losing streak at home versus Thorndale would be an important first step. To get that win, however, requires a lot of work that the team must complete. For Wyatt Lorenzen, part of that work includes strengthening everyone and being prepared to be more physical on the field.
“We’re going to have to go into games ready to hit somebody,” Lorenzen said. “If we kick the ball first and win the toss, we have to make sure he’s on the ground so our defense can stop him.”
Wyatt Lorenzen takes the ball himself on a run last Friday against Holland. (Photo by Andrew Hermes)
