Lake coach Tate Hanna expected a back-and-forth game with Philadelphia Friday night.
While the Hornets moved the ball well against the Tornadoes, they just couldn’t cash in on their opportunities.
Philadelphia, however, made the most of their chances en route to a 37-15 win over Lake in a key district matchup.
Lake came up empty on two possessions in Philadelphia territory in the first half, while the Tornadoes cashed in on four of their five trips inside Lake territory to take a 24-0 lead at halftime. One of the empty possessions for Lake ended at the goal line as time expired before halftime.
“We were behind on the chains the whole night,” Hanna said. “We’re a lot better football team than that score shows. We’re really disappointed to come out with a loss. Philadelphia is a great football team. If we play them 10 times, I think we come out a lot better than we did tonight.
“We left about 21 points on the field in the first half. When you play good teams like this and you get an opportunity, you’ve got to get after it.”
The Hornets (5-1, 0-1 in district play) will look to regroup as they play Newton Friday night at E.L. Morgan Field. Lake could be doing that without starting quarterback Brady McGee, who was carted off the field in an ambulance facing a possible hip injury. No information was available as of press time Tuesday as to his status this week.
Facing a fourth-and-3 inside Lake territory, Philadelphia Asher Morgan found Lideatrick Griffin for a 34-yard touchdown on fourth down. Connor Long added the PAT to give the Tornadoes a 7-0 lead.
Lake looked like they were going to respond, thanks to a 26-yard pass from McGee to Zywon Ledbetter. On fourth-and-4 at the Philly 31, Broen Jordan sacked Lake to end the threat.
Morgan then threw his second touchdown pass on a 52-yard pass to Raedarius Triplett.
On the first play of second quarter, the Tornadoes added a 41-yard touchdown.
After the Hornets were held on fourth down again, J.D. Evans came up with pass breakup on a Philly fourth down to keep the lead at 14-0.
A Jatarian Hudson pick led to a 26-yard field goal by Connor Long, and the Hornets were stuffed on fourth-and-goal to end the first half, giving Philadelphia a 24-0 lead.
Danarrious Hughes had another key defensive play on third down to give the Hornets a shot to get on the board before halftime.
Ledbetter and McGee hooked up for a 19-yard pass to move into Tornado territory. Then, a 23-yard pass to Jadorian Pace gave Lake first-and-goal at the 1 after he stepped out just short of the goal line.
However, the Philly defense stiffened and held the Hornets three times runs up the middle to prevent the scoring as time expired.
The Hornets finally converted on McGee’s 10-yard pass to Jadorian Pace moments into the second half. Johnny Johnson added the conversion to cut the advantage to 24-8.
The Tornadoes answered immediately on a 71-yard strike from Morgan to Kadarius Calloway.
Trey Crockett added a 6-yard touchdown for the final Philly score while the Hornets’ Johnny Johnson’s had a 7-yard touchdown with 22 seconds left.
