Fortson-Linton logged two sacks worth 18 yards and, in the late going, recovered an errant lateral at Olney's 3 and almost scored a touchdown.
It would have been his first of the game. Though he coulda/shoulda had another.
Late in the first quarter, with the rain (just his luck) coming down big-time, Fortson-Linton dropped a certain TD flip of 19 yards from soph Joseph Walker.
"That killed me," he said, smiling. "I don't get too many chances like those, since we're mostly a running team. My hands were wet. My towel was wet . . . Frustrating. Still should have had it.
"I tried not to let it get to me. Tried to regain my focus. Tried to block out all the unnecessary thoughts like, 'What if I drop one again? What if I make another mistake?' The idea is to put away all that negativity and just concentrate on the next opportunity."
Flash ahead to the fourth quarter. The play began at the 10 and the backward hitch pass by Quadir Schley was cradled at the 3 by Fortson-Linton. Off to the short-term races, for six points, he did not go.
"My teammate tripped me," Fortson-Linton said, referring to soph cornerback Ahharan Barksdale. "He was going for the ball, too, and we got tangled. I didn't know what happened at first. Then he was going, 'I apologize for that.' We laughed about it. At least we still got the score."
That came on a fourth-down, 4-yard flip from Donnell Shields to Kevin Hart; they're also sophs.
Mastbaum's first three TDs were posted on runs of 2 yards by Haywood Mantieo, 10 by Frank Quiles and 7 by Andre Bryant. Guess what grade those guys are in?
Quick thought: Instead of mouthpieces, these guys should use pacifiers.
