Bel Air (1-0) opened the Tony Belcastro era Friday night with a 30-12 win against cross-town rival John Carroll (1-1) at Al Cesky Field.
It should have been reason to celebrate.
But the Bobcats face the prospect of being without starting quarterback Luke Dempsey for the rest of the season. The junior severely injured his left (non-throwing) elbow in his first varsity start.
The injury came on a successful two-point conversion pass, extending the Bel Air lead to 11 points with 4:37 remaining in the fourth quarter.
“To be honest, we didn?t want to go for two,” Belcastro said, explaining that long-snapper Mitch Poole was on the receiving end of a 74-yard touchdown pass just prior to the conversion attempt. With Poole winded, the Bobcats opted to go for two. Dempsey finished 9-of-11 for 190 yards and two passing touchdowns. He also ran for 68 yards and a score.
“He showed tonight that he could step up and play at a varsity-caliber level,” Belcastro said.
Bel Air line coach Doug Dempsey, amid chants of his son?s name in the game?s final minutes, did not want his son to leave the field.
“I?m going to let him be with his boys,” Doug Dempsey said.
The younger Dempsey earned it. He scored the Bobcats? first touchdown on a 63-yard run and then threw a fade to Brad Bishop for a 36-yard score.
John Carroll closed the gap at the half and cut the Bel Air lead to 15-12 by the end of the third quarter.
A 5:32 drive to open the fourth quarter ended in a missed field goal for the tie, and Bel Air capitalized with Dempsey?s 74-yard touchdown to Poole.
With Dempsey out for an extended period of time, perhaps the remainder of the season, the Bobcats will turn to junior Mychal McGee, who scored Bel Air?s final touchdown on a 1-yard run. McGee barely lost out to Dempsey in a close preseason position battle.
“We will learn what his strengths are and then use those strengths to attack our opponents? weaknesses,” Belcastro said.
Bel Air has won eight straight meetings between the schools, dating back to 1991.
