The Lake Hornets were able to get back on the football field last week as they traveled to Nanih Waiya.
The Hornets started out slow but scored 20 unanswered points in the second half and rolled up 493 yards of total offense in a 20-0 win over Nanih Waiya.
The Hornets (4-5) improve to 3-1 in Division 5-2A play. Lake will travel to Stringer on Friday night in non-division contest.
The Hornets got back to the field after having to forfeit last week’s game against Philadelphia after player Travis Jones died. Coach Tate Hanna said his team was just glad to be able to play a football game.
“First off, we were glad to be play football,” Hanna said. “We were grateful for the opportunity to play a football game and we had a bunch of kids that were ready to play. Defensively, we played about as good as we could play. We held them to under 70 yards and they never got anything going. We never punted on offense but had a lot of penalties. We moved the ball and broke some plays, but they would get called back. The main thing is we were proud to be able to play and proud of how our kids responded. They did a good job of going out there and playing a good game with all that we had going on.”
The Hornets got the ball to start the game but turned the ball over on an interception by Austin Windle for Nanih Waiya.
The Hornets continued to struggle on offense as they fumbled on drive two and then turned the ball over on downs the next three possessions of the first half as the game went to halftime tied 0-0.
The Warriors got the ball to start the second half and put together a 12-play drive, but a 33-yard field goal failed with 5:02 left in the third.
Lake then responded as they hit the big play with Kelon Rhodes scoring on an 80-yard touchdown run with 4:47 left in the third quarter. The PAT failed and Lake led 6-0.
The Hornets turned the ball over on downs for a fourth time on the next possession.
Lake finally pulled away midway through the fourth quarter as Jalen Gray hit Cameron Hunt on a 78-yard touchdown pass with 8:56 left in the game. Gray ran in the two-point conversion and Lake led 14-0.
After an interception by Hunt, Lake put together another scoring drive as they went 52 yards in nine plays. Rhodes capped off the drive with a 17-yard run and Frank Pazos hit the PT as Lake led 20-0.
“Defensively, I thought we controlled the box and those guys inside the ball did a good job,” Hanna said. “We knew they would rely on the run and we did a good job of getting them off the field quickly and not letting them get anything started. They had one sustained drive in the second half. I thought the box was the big difference and those seven got after it.”
Lake had its best offensive night of the season with 321 yards rushing and 172 passing for 493 yards of total offense.
Rhodes had 147 yards rushing on 11 carries while Gray had 77 yards on nine carries.
Gray was 7-of-12 passing for 172 yards with one TD. Hunt had 124 yards receiving on four catches.
On defense, Ny’zavion McClendon led the way with four solo tackles and six assists with a fumble recovery and a tipped pass. Kenny Ray Hanna had seven assists while Rodarius Nelson had two solo tackles and five assists.
