Sep 30, 2006 By Stephen Flinn For The 4 min read

WASHINGTON – Brownsville could not recover after two botched punts and a stalled drive on fourth-and-two inside its own territory in the first half of Friday night’s Interstate Conference game at Washington High School. The Prexies (2-3, 2-2) turned the three Falcon miscues into touchdowns, which fueled a 60-7 Washington High victory and kept Brownsville winless.

Early in the first half the Falcons (0-5, 0-4) did not look like the team that had only scored one touchdown in each of their first four games, being outscored 174-28 in that same span.

Except for two Prexie offensive plays, Brownsville held the ball the entire first quarter as running back Dante Johnson gained 39 yards on 14 carries.

“We really got off the ball and had our run game in synch early in the game,” Brownsville coach Andy Assad said. “That’s the best we looked in a while.”

Johnson was the workhorse for the Falcons as he rushed for 65 yards on 24 carries.

“Dante is a real good kid for us,” Assad said. “He gave his all tonight, just like he always does.”

Unfortunately, one of Washington’s two plays in the first quarter was a touchdown and the Prexies took a 7-0 first-quarter lead.

Brownsville took the opening kickoff and rushed for two first downs before the drive stalled. The Falcons were forced to punt, but the snap sailed over punter Mark Mammeralla’s head. The Prexies stuffed him trying to run up the left sideline and took over at the Falcon 42 yard line.

Running back Alex Evans sneaked out of the backfield and was left all alone sprinting down the left sideline, 10 yards behind the defender. He caught the Smith pass in stride and didn’t stop until he was dragged over the goal line 45 yards downfield with five minutes left in the first quarter to give the Prexies a 7-0 lead.

Late in the first quarter, Brownsville crossed midfield after an 8-yard Phil Shaw pass to Craig Novak and a 15-yard Prexie penalty for a shot to the head of Shaw.

The Falcons continued to drive and were faced with fourth-and-goal at the 1 yard line.

Shaw bulled over the goal line on a quarterback keeper to tie the game less than two minutes into the second quarter to cap the impressive 78-yard drive. It was the first time this season the Falcons tied the score in a game.

The defense could not, and the Prexies responded with an 80-yard touchdown drive capped by a Smith 9-yard touchdown run to give Washington a 14-7 lead early in the second quarter.

“Once we got down two touchdowns we started to lose our rhythm,” Assad said. “Our running game was never the same after that point, and I really don’t know why.”

The Falcons had to punt from their own end zone late in the first half, but another bad snap caused a Mammeralla shank, and the Prexies took over at the Brownsville 28.

They made the Falcons pay again for a bad punt after Caleb Pemberton broke through a wide-open middle and dashed six yards for the touchdown to push Washington’s lead to 21-7 with less than five minutes left in the half.

With two minutes left in the half, Brownsville went for it on fourth-and-two from its own 30, but Keith Johnson was stuffed trying to dive over the right side and the Prexies took over.

“We had some trouble punting early so that’s why we decided to go for it on that series,” Assad said. “Those two bad punts early hurt us because we got down and could not get back into the game.”

Helped by a pass interference call on the Falcons, Washington took a commanding 27-7 lead with 2 minutes left in the half after Joe Ward scored on a 15-yard draw play.

After the break, Ward broke several tackles on his way to a 15-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter, his second touchdown run of the game.

Craig Stamm picked off a Shaw-tipped pass late in the third quarter. One play later, Evans scored his second touchdown of the night, his third overall, with a 14-yard run.

Stamm joined the scoring party with two minutes in the third quarter as he scored on a 25-yard pitch.

Evans later burst free for a 40-yard run with nine minutes left for his fourth touchdown of the game, and Shawn Vaughn scored on a 4-yard run.

Brownsville travels to Yough next week.