Godfrey-Lee Legends - WKTV Journal

By Ty Marzean

WKTV Managing Editor

Lee Legends’ 2024 football season got off to a rough start Thursday, Aug. 29. They lost their quarterback, Anthony Blok, to injury and suffered a 41-18 defeat to Sacred Heart in WKTV’s Game of the Week.

Blok left the game after a hard hit on the opening drive of the third quarter.

Lee QB Anthony Blok suffered an injury in the third quarter of Aug. 29 opening game. (Courtesy, WKTV)

“Anthony is doing much better,” said third-year coach Lamar Marshall. “Resting, [but] most likely won’t have him next week for Homecoming.”

Lee defeated Sacred Heart 42-30 during the 2023 season, with Blok throwing for 253 yards and four touchdown passes.

Starting strong, losing momentum

Legends’ senior quarterback Blok threw touchdown passes of 46 and 51 yards to Jaden Potts and Aidan Merriweather, respectively, in the first quarter.

“We started off well, then lost momentum and missed a ton of tackles,” Marshall said.

Will Hyland, sophomore quarterback for Sacred Heart, was a one-man wrecking crew in the team’s first-ever varsity football victory. He scored all 41 points, including five rushing touchdowns, an 82-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, and five PATs.

Sacred Heart QB Will Hyland (#5) scores final touchdown of the first half. (Courtesy, WKTV)

Hyland finished the first drive of the season with an 18-yard touchdown run to open up the scoring in what would be a high-scoring first quarter.

Sacred Heart had a 20-12 lead at the end of the first quarter. Both teams scored an additional touchdown, and Lee senior defensive back Jayden Pena intercepted a pass in the end zone. Sacred Heart led 27-18 at the end of the second quarter.

Finding their rhythm

Sophomore Jaden Sanchez replaced Blok after the third-quarter injury, but was unable to get the Legends’ offense in rhythm. Coach Marshall is confident they have found a strategy that will best fit Sanchez.

“I believe we’ve found a formula that will work, running the ball and getting it out quickly,” Marshall said of his squad. “Our game plan going forward is fundamentals; we have to preach doing the fundamentals correctly.

“We missed a few opportunities such as not capitalizing after half, leaving yards and touchdowns on the field.”

Lee (0-1) will look for their first win Homecoming night, Sept. 6 at 7 p.m., against Calvin Christian (1-0).

The Lee Legends team at practice prior to a Sept. 1, 2021 game. (WKTV)

By Zach Fanko, WKTV Contributing Writer

Despite a solid day on offense, Godfrey-Lee fell short against host Lawrence, 66-40 on Friday.

Elijah Beckwith had five touchdowns, including three on the ground, a kickoff return and a 76-yard TD reception. He had 17 carries for 205 yards.

Quarterback Anthony Blok passed for 194 yards and two TDs.

“Blok is coming around in his first year as the starter,” said Godfrey-Lee Coach Lamar Marshall, whose team dropped to 0-5 overall. “He’s getting his IQ of the offense.”

Marshall said the game was a big improvement, noting that the Legends had zero turnovers.

WKTV Game of the Week

Our Game of the Week airs every Friday night on WKTV Comcast Channel 25 & AT&T U-Verse Channel 99 at 11 p.m. with a rebroadcast on Saturday at 11 a.m. If you don’t have cable, visit our website at WKTV.org to watch the livestream. Watch at home on your Smart TV in brilliant HD.