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Lamey's efforts helped to keep Ridley close

ALLENTOWN – Like teammate Steve Egee, Ridley's star quarterback and a Division I basketball recruit, Rob Lamey considered not playing football as a senior.

ALLENTOWN – Like teammate Steve Egee, Ridley's star quarterback and a Division I basketball recruit, Rob Lamey considered not playing football as a senior.

Lamey is a talented midfielder in lacrosse and was thinking of concentrating on preparing to play that sport in college. That was, until some prodding from his father.

"I have to give my dad some props," Lamey said. "He got me back into it."

The Green Raiders were happy Lamey decided to play football. With 11 catches for 159 yards and a touchdown, the 6-foot, 170-pound wideout helped keep Ridley close to Parkland in yesterday's PIAA Class AAAA state semifinal playoff matchup. The Trojans pulled away late and won, 35-21, at J. Birney Crum Stadium.

Parkland, which ripped off fourth-quarter scoring runs of 50 and 56 yards, totaled 182 yards on the ground. Quarterback John Laub completed 11 of 15 passes for 214 yards and a touchdown.

As big as the Trojans are, few expected them to net 396 yards of offense against the stout Green Raiders' defense.

"Missed tackles really hurt us," said Lamey, who doubles as a cornerback. "That wasn't like us, to let guys get away and get extra yardage like that."

Entering the game, Ridley had yielded an average of 81 yards rushing and 70 yards passing. The Green Raiders had outscored foes by a combined score of 353-80.

"I really thought this was our year," Lamey said. "We just didn't execute in this game as much as we had hoped."

In the second half, Lamey hauled in nine receptions for 143 yards. With just under 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter, he caught a left-side pass from Egee, faked out a would-be tackler, and then successfully dove for the pylon. His 18-yard TD catch and Egee's two-point conversion toss to Steve Gregg made it a 21-21 game.

"I had told the coaches I wanted the ball," said Lamey, who is considering several colleges for lacrosse. "The starting cornerback [Jaleel Clark] went out with an injury. I knew we could attack No. 15 and beat him."

For the season, Lamey, who made three solo tackles yesterday, made 60 catches for 796 yards, both team highs, and seven TDs.

"I can't say enough about Rob Lamey," said Egee, who converted 17 of 28 passes for 248 yards and two scores. "He runs great routes, has great hands. It's been a pleasure playing with him."

Like Lamey, several other football players compete in lacrosse for Ridley, including Gregg, Andrew Hodges, Mark Kane and Pat Zimmerman.

On defense, Gregg and Kane were involved in seven and six tackles, respectively. Linebacker Greg Marenic led the way with 10 tackles, including five solo stops.