Most coaches who play Newton’s Tyreke Snow agree that he may be the best football player in Class 2A this season.
But on Friday night, the Lake defense was better.
The Hornets (3-4) used a stingy defense to limit Snow and used a steady run game to take a 27-18 win over the Tigers (3-4) in a key 5-2A battle at E.L. Morgan Field. Lake will host Philadelphia on Friday night. Newton will play at Kemper County on Friday night.
Lake coach Tate Hanna said his team and especially the defense, played one of its best games of the season.
“I think our kids played extremely well,” Hanna said. “We started off a little slow but got better as the night went on. They had homecoming, and it was a lot of the stuff that puts you off what you do. I think that led to a lot of it. It was a totally different atmosphere, and that kind of threw us off. But we started to pick things up and got things rolling on both sides of the ball. I thought Coach (John) Shellenbach did a good job of keeping them away from the big plays, and that’s what worried me the whole time about them. It was an all-around good effort by our kids and a total team win. I thought we won in all three phases of the game.”
Newton got on the board first midway through the first quarter. The Tigers got the first break of the game when Lake was punting from their deep in their territory. Tyreke Snow returned the punt 20 yards to the Lake 15. On the next play, Corey Taylor scored on a 15-yard run. The PAT failed and Newton held a 6-0 lead.
The Hornets then responded with a 12-play, 60-yard drive, as Kelon Rhodes scored on 4-yard run. Franz Pazos hit the PAT, and Lake held a slim 7-6 lead early in the second quarter.
Lake extended the lead late in the second quarter when the Hornets went 63 yards in seven plays. The Hornets found the end zone when Jalen Gray hit Cameron Hunt on a 15-yard touchdown pass. Pazos was good on the PAT and Lake took a 14-6 lead into the half.
“We had homecoming, and that was distracting,” Newton coach Zack Grady said. “We didn’t play our best game, and they played really good. They executed and ran the ball well and took advantage of their opportunities. They had a good game plan. We had turnovers and mental lapses, and they were able to pull off the win. So my hats are off to them. We struggled stopping the run. We might have nine people doing their job, but football is a team sport, and they all have to execute. Lake may not be the flashiest team, but they played a good football game.”
After the Hornets pinned the Tigers deep and forced them to punt out of their own end zone, Lake took over at the Newton 33. the Hornets went six plays before Rhodes scored on a 1-yard run midway through the third quarter. Pazos hit the PAT and Lake led 20-6.
After swapping possessions, Lake gave up the big play late in the third quarter when Snow hit LaRobert Wheaton on an 82-yard touchdown pass. The try for two failed, and Lake led 20-12 late in the third.
Lake went 88 yards in five plays to extend the lead again. The Hornets got 65-yard run from Nicholas Macklin and capped off the drive with a 15-yard run by O’Darius Nelson. Pazos hit the PAT and Lake led 27-12.
Newton added its last touchdown on the next drive as Snow hit Detraun Brown on a 34-yard touchdown pass. The try for two failed for the final margin of 27-18.
“When you play a team like Newton and a player like Snow, you just try to limit his big plays,” Hanna said. “He is one of the best players in 2A and one of the best I have seen in a long time. He puts you in a bad predicament on defense. You don’t really want to rush him because if he gets out of the pocket, he can really hurt you. But our kids were prepared, and anytime you can hold him to 50 yards rushing, it’s a good night. We had 11 people flying to the ball all night. We even had a defensive tackle go make a tackle on a hitch route. It was a great defensive game for our guys.
Lake had 276 yards rushing and 15 passing for 291 yards of total offense. Rhodes had 105 yards rushing on 21 carries while Rodarius Nelson had 97 yards on 14 carries. Nicholas Macklin had 73 yards on five carries. Jalen Gray was 4-of-13 passing for 15 yards.
Ny’zavion McClendon led the defense with 5.5 tackles, including 2.5 for a loss. Travis Jones had four tackles while Rodarius Nelson had three tackles including one for a loss. Kenny Ray Hanna had 2.5 tackles while Cameron Hunt had two tackles and an interception.
Snow was 4-of-10 passing for 151 yards and two TDs and also had 50 yards on 10 carries. De’Traun Brown had two catches for 60 yards, and Wheaton had one catch for 81 yards. Taylor had seven carries for 25 yards.
On defense for Newton, Kylan Wilkerson had 11.5 tackles including two for a loss while Dontavious Lanier had 11 tackles and forced a fumble. Keshawn Lofton had 10 tackles while Emmanuel Robinson had 5.5 tackles. Ashton Bedford had 5.5 tackles with two for a loss while Wheaton had five tackles and a sack. Snow had four tackles while Taylor and Demo Irby each had three stops apiece.
