LAWRENCE TWP. — The Lawrence High football team was mad. After so many years of blowouts, the Cardinals are once again playing competitive football so losing a winnable game for the second straight week is going to leave a bad taste in the mouth next week. Despite a career-best 164 rushing yards from Isaac Pitts-Parker and an 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Isaiah Grier, Lawrence came up short in a 20-13 loss to Pemberton in a WJFL National Division contest on Friday night. “It stings, man,” veteran coach Rob Radice said. “These are the kind of games you lose sleep over. We’re right there. If you get your butts whooped, you can kind of live with it a little bit. When it’s a nip-and-tuck game, you certainly want to be in it to win it. We’ve been in it to win it the last two games and just haven’t gotten it done.” Lawrence (3-2, 2-2 WJFL National) has lost two straight one-score games following last week’s 10-7 setback at Bordentown. In this one, it was playing without leading rusher James Lyons (685 yards in four games), which put more responsibility on Pitts-Parker’s shoulders. The senior tailback answered the call. He ran hard all night, and finished with 164 yards on 28 carries. “Coach told me I had to step up. I was like, ‘hey I’ll do my thing,'” Pitts-Parker said. “I watched so much tape. I watched these guys to see how they play and see who was going against me. The offensive line got in the huddle and told me they go my back and I told them I got them, too.” “He was phenomenal,” Radice said. “I was so proud of him. I thought we played tough. We didn’t play like we were afraid to hit. It was a good football game. We just got to find a way to play cleaner.” The Cardinals got off to an explosive start when Grier took the opening kickoff back 85 yards to the house, but that lead only lasted mere seconds as EJ Zapata-Smalls responded for Pemberton by taking the ensuing kickoff 55 yards to the end zone. The Hornets missed the extra point and Lawrence held a 7-6 lead at halftime. The Hornets (3-1, 3-0 WJFL Valley) opened the second half with a long scoring march that quarterback Nehemiah Maynes capped off with a five-yard scoring run. Maynes then connected with Zapata-Smalls on the two-point play to make it 14-7. That’s where the score stayed until Lawrence drove inside the red zone and faced a 4th-and-5 at the Pemberton seven with 6:02 remaining. Quarterback Francis Gage rolled out to his left and lofted a pass that Chude Nnebe grabbed in the corner end zone for perhaps the most surprising score of the season considering the Cards had completed just eight passes all season and none in the game up to that point. But Gage was injured on the play and they missed the extra point. By the time Lawrence got the ball back on its own 23 with 1:40 left and no timeouts and a backup quarterback in the game there was little chance for success. The game ended with a scoop-and-score for Anthony Carter on a strip sack. “It was certainly a winnable game,” Radice said. “I thought the kids played hard, but we’re making too many mistakes. We can’t take holding calls or offside calls because we have a hard time overcoming those things. Then when we do something good, it’s like what’s next.” Pemberton (3-1, 3-0) 6 0 7 6 — 20 Lawrence (3-2, 2-2) 7 0 0 6 — 13 L- Grier 85 kick return (Petit-Homme kick) P- Zapata-Smalls 55 kick return (kick no good) P- Mayne 5 run (Zapata-Smith pass from Mayne) L- Nnebe 7 pass from Gage (kick no good) P- Carter 12 fumble return (no try)