Pointers Lose Home Opener Under New 'Friday Night Lights'

It many places, Friday night lights mean one thing: high school football. And now it does at Sparrows Point, too.

Playing their first game ever under their newly constructed $500,000 lights, the Pointers naturally hoped to celebrate the occasion with a season-opening victory.

Unfortunately, they were unable to overcome the athleticism of Digital Harbor quarterback Dominic Barnes, who almost single-handedly beat the Pointers, 26-7.

Prior to the contest, Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz joined Councilman John Olszewski, Sr., Del. John Olszewski, Jr. and Sparrows Point Principal Rob SantaCroce to dedicate the field lighting.

“This is an evening that we have been waiting for for a long time,” said Olszewski, Sr. “I can remember when the only seats we had was one bleacher. We started out with the scoreboard, next we installed the track, then came the stands. Tonight we had the unveiling of the lights if it continues like this soon we might have artificial turf.”

Due to the lighting ceremony, the opening kickoff was delayed almost 30 minutes, much to the dismay of Glenn Imirie, Sparrows Point's head coach.

“After we warmed up, we had to wait for almost a half an hour,” said Imirie. “Our kids were so hyped up on adrenaline, but then we were sitting around waiting and waiting. The adrenaline dumped out of our system. We have a senior rich backfield, but upfront we are very young. For a lot of them it's their first time on a varsity field, it was kind of like a deer in the headlights.”

After trading scoreless possessions in the first quarter, Barnes broke the scoring open with a fourth down, 47-yard touchdown run on a broken pass play with two minutes left in the half. The extra point was missed, giving the Rams a 6-0 lead.

“My first read was to throw deep to Anthony Young, but I saw that he was covered,” said Barnes. “I saw an open gap and I hit it.”

With 7:41 left in the first half, Barnes again dropped back to pass when Pointer defensive lineman Aaron Owensby collapsed the pocket, forcing Barnes to throw off his back foot. Pointer defensive back Darrin Beattie intercepted the pass, giving Sparrows Point their best field position.

Two plays later, receiver Kyle Faid caught a 20-yard pass from Pointer quarterback Justin Gensicki to give the Pointers first and goal on the 1-yardline. Gensicki snuck it in to put Sparrows Point ahead, 7-6, after the made extra point.

The lead, however, proved fleeting.

On the ensuing kickoff, Digital Harbor return man Marquis Walker took the kick at his own 20 and returned it all the way to the end zone. Another missed extra point made the score 12-7 Rams. Then, with just 13 seconds left in the half, Barnes connected on a 40-yard touchdown pass to make the score 18-7.

“Dominic was excellent for us tonight,” said Rams coach Keith Rudolph. “He really separates himself from the pack with his athleticism. He is getting a lot of looks from DI schools.”

Seconds later, things went from bad to worse for the Pointers.

On the last play of the first half, scrambling from his own 20, Gensicki took a hard hit and landed on his non-throwing shoulder. He was unable to return in the second half and back-up quarterback Darrin Beattie took all the second-half snaps for the Pointers.

“I just landed on my shoulder wrong I should be ready for next week ,” said Gensicki. “I sat down with Beattie during halftime and told him to show everybody why he made varsity as a sophomore. He is a really strong, hard-nosed kid.”

Despite the pep talk from Gensicki, Beattie was unable to get the Pointer offense going in the second half. Digital Harbor would add another touchdown in the third quarter to ice the game and take the victory, 26-7.