When a weather delay stopped the momentum of their opening drive, the St. Mark’s Lions went to the locker room and remembered an important saying.
“Control what you can control,” coach Harry Flaherty told them.
When they returned to the field, they did just that – giving the ball to David Dickson.
The 180-pound back finished the game with 18 carries for 94 yards and three catches for 31 yards as he accounted for 125 of the Lions’ 456 total yards in a resounding 37-6 victory against Cistercian on Friday night.
Matthew Wier had four catches for 116 yards, including a 90-yard TD that put the capper on the festive home opener at Hunt Family Stadium. Quarterback Blaize Schumacher threw for 165 yards and two touchdowns, and backup Braden Scott had the 90-yarder to Wier.
The only drawback to the evening was a 51-minute lightning delay that stopped the game after eight plays. When play resumed, the Lions (1-1) converted a fourth-and-7 to help set up Henry McGill’s 36-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead.
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“We came out in the second half and executed our systems on both sides,” Flaherty said. “A lot of guys for us are new in their starting roles, so it was really important for them to finish a game and gut out a win.”
The Lions needed to rally after they trailed 6-3 following a 16-play Cistercian touchdown drive on its first possession.
Then turnovers stopped the next two St. Mark’s drives.
But after a missed field goal by Cistercian (0-2), the Lions got the ball back and scored on Braden Scott’s 43-yard run to start a string of five unanswered touchdowns to finish the game.
Credit the Lions’ young playmakers, including Dickson, a junior who is also a captain. “It’s a sign of the respect the other guys have for him,” Flaherty said.
Credit all of the Lions for shaking off a season-opening setback at Fort Worth Country Day last week.
“It’s tough to start on the losing side, but I thought we had a good week of practice and focused on a one-game season against this school,” he said. “We gave them the ball a couple of times. They made us earn it.”
