Lake's Johnny Johnson tries to elude a Union tackler during a game earlier this season. (Jim Ogletree/Special to The Appeal)
Lake’s reward for beating Newton and finishing in a three-way tie for first in Division 4-2A was a trip to defending 2A state champion Calhoun City.
And the Wildcats played like they were defending champions, shutting down Lake’s rugged rushing attack in a 32-6 win on Friday night.
Lake finishes the season with an 8-3 record while Calhoun City improves to 10-2 on the season.
“I don’t think we were ready to play when we got there,” Lake coach Tate Hanna said. “We didn’t play good ball at all. Nothing against Calhoun City, they were the best team in their district like everybody had told me. But we didn’t play like we were capable of playing on either side of the football.”
The Hornets set the tone for the game on the opening kick when Marc Qualls fumbled and the Lake offense went three and out to force a punt.
Calhoun then showed off its game-breaking speed when Treshon Cooper took a pitch left, reversed field and raced 70 yards for a touchdown. Keshon Parker ran in the two-point conversion and Calhoun City led 8-0 early in the first.
Lake then threw an interception on their next possession but forced Calhoun City to punt twice as the defense settled in. Lake then got on the board early in the second quarter when Mickey Parker hit Zywon Ledbetter on a 53-yard touchdown pass. The two-point conversion failed and Calhoun led 8-6.
The Wildcats added its last score of the half with a 10-play, 80-yard drive as JoJo Gray hit Cooper on a 26-yard touchdown pass with 25 seconds left in the half. Parker then scored the two-point conversion and Calhoun City led 16-6 at the half.
While the Lake offense struggled in the second half, Calhoun City added scores in the third and fourth quarter to pull away with the win.
“They totally shut our offense down,” Hanna said. “We were flat from the start. When Mark dropped that opening kick, it just went downhill from there. Our kids knew nothing about them and that’s one of the disadvantages of being in the North. All I know is No. 44 (Keshon Parker) is a good player and he’s the best running back we have seen so far. When they put him at tailback and started running lead at us in the second half, we couldn’t do anything with it.”
Despite the loss, Hanna said he couldn’t be more pleased with the season.
“I am proud of how far we have come this year,” Hanna said. “It’s not easy going from 1-9 to winning eight games and we finished tied for first in our district. It’s a good base to build off of. We have to get in the weight room and get to work now. And there are some kids in the halls that could help us that need to be out there. I’m proud of what the senior class did and got things going back in the right direction. We went through a lot of things this year, lost some good players and faced a lot of adversity.”
