LAKE 40, PELAHATCHIE 0
After two frustrating losses to open the season, the Lake Hornets took out their frustrations on the Pelahatchie Chieftains.
Lake raced out to a 26-0 halftime lead and cruised to a 40-0 shutout win over Pelahatchie on Friday.
Lake improves to 1-2 on the season and will take on Choctaw Central this week.
Lake coach Tate Hanna said despite the slow start, his team practiced hard last week and put together its best performance of the season.
“It was a good night on both sides of the ball,” Hanna said. “I thought the kids had a good week of practice. We made a change at quarterback and I think that helped a lot. I thought we had to do something different that we had done the last two weeks. Last week was all about Lake getting better and doing what we were supposed to do and I thought we did a good job of that last week.”
The Hornets started slow as they punted on their first possession.
But Lake got going on its second drive, going 63 yards in eight plays as Jamarrion Blaylock scored on a 10-yard run. Blaylock ran in the two-point conversion and Lake led 8-0 midway through the first quarter.
After forcing another Pelahatchie punt, Lake went 54 yards in seven plays as Blaylock scored on a 1-yard run. Ken Spivey ran in the two-point conversion and Lake led 16-0 early in the second quarter.
After an interception by Brantavious Slack, Lake went 59 yards in two plays as Spivey scored on a 59-yard run. Demtrius Towner ran in the two-point conversion and Lake led 24-0.
Lake added a safety midway through the second quarter when Pelahatchie snapped the ball out of the end zone as the Hornets led 26-0 at the half.
“I thought the main thing was the defense went back to playing team football,” Hanna said. “We carried out all of our assignments and controlled the gaps we were supposed to control. We didn’t do that against Sebastopol and it showed. I thought the linebackers played a lot better, and overall, we did a tremendous job of tackling and playing team defense.”
Lake got the ball to start the second half and went 51 yards in five plays as Towner scored on a 1-yard run. The try for two failed and Lake led 32-0.
After a Pelahatchie punt, Lake scored in one play as Jamarii Spivey scored on a 50-yard run. Griffin Boles hit Kentavious Gray on the two-point conversion for the final score of 40-0.
“I thought we did what we wanted to on offense,” Hanna said. “When we wanted to run, we ran the ball. When we wanted to throw, we threw it. I thought Griffin did a good job at quarterback. Offensively, I thought that was the biggest change. We had a little more confidence in what we were doing and ran the ball well. It was just a good night on both sides of the football.”
The Hornets had their best game of the season on offense with 442 yards total yards. Lake had 368 yards rushing and 74 passing.
In his first start, Griffin Boles was 8-of-13 for 74 yards. Spivey had his best night rushing with 159 yards on 17 carries. Jamarrion Blaylock had 73 yards on six carries.
Demtrius Towner had another outstanding night for Lake with nine total tackles with seven of those for a loss. Ny’Zavion McClendon had 5.5 tackles with two tackles for loss and a sack. Lamarius Mayers had 4.5 tackles while Jamarrion Blaylock and Jamarii Spivey each had four tackles apiece. Labarrion Patrick had 2.5 tackles with two tackles for loss while Brantavious Slack had 1.5 tackles and an interception.
