Lake coach Tate Hanna was the first to admit it.
Friday’s win over Morton was an ugly win but it’s better than the alternative.
The Hornets scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns and pulled away to take a 30-14 win over Scott County rival Morton on Friday night.
With the win, the Hornets are now 5-0 on the season and will close out non-division play with a road trip to unbeaten Pisgah.
Despite the win, Hanna some plenty of areas of improvement for the Hornets.
“I think we still aren’t doing a good job of playing to our full potential,” Hanna said. “We are getting better up front but we aren’t putting points on the road when we need to and finishing drives. We are making some costly penalties that are keeping the other team in the game. I thought we came out flat during the pregame and they were really fired up and excited. We just have to continue to get better and better on offense.”
Lake appeared to score on a 70-yard run by Jadorian Pace to start the game but it was called back on a penalty and the Hornets were forced to punt.
On their second possession, Brady McGee got lose on a 61-yard touchdown run. The try for two failed and Lake led 6-0.
That lead stayed until half-time when McGee threw an interception in the end zone to end a 12-play drive in the second quarter.
“We had several chances to score and a mistake here or there just killed us,” Hanna said. “We had a holding penalty that cost us one score and then Brady threw an interception when we were moving the football. I told the coaches that I have been undefeated before and had some good teams with some ugly wins and then they got hot late. I think we have a lot of potential, we just need to put it all together.”
Morton got its first break when Lake muffed a punt I the third quarter, giving them the ball at the Hornets 36. Three plays later the Panthers scored on a touchdown pass and booted the PAT to go up 7-6.
Lake answered right back as Pace set the offense up with a 78-yard kickoff return. Four plays later, Johnny Johnson scored on a 3-yard run while Magee scored on the two-point conversion as the Hornets took a 14-7 lead.
The Hornets pinned the Panthers down deep at their own 8 but Morton hit a big play and scored on a 92-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 14-14.
The Panthers then recovered the ensuing kick but was forced to punt starting the fourth quarter.
Lake then responded with a seven-play, 60-yard drive as Cornelius Mayers scored on a 27-yard touchdown run. McGee ran in the two-point conversion and Lake led 22-14.
After a Morton three and out, Lake put together its best drive of the game as they went 73 yards in 10 plays as McGee hit Zywon Ledbetter on a 31-yard touchdown pass. Johnson ran in the two-point conversion for the final margin.
Lake had 259 yards rushing and 58 passing for 317 yards of total offense. McGee had 102 yards rushing on 18 carries and was 4-of-12 passing for 58 yards. Johnson had a big game with 99 yards rushing on 25 carries while Mayers had 74 yards on seven carries. Ledbetter had one catch for 31 yards while Danarrious Hughes had three catches for 27 yards.
Johnson led the defense with 6.5 tackles while Shelton Porter had six stops. Kalvin Dinkins also had six tackles including one for a loss while Hughes had four tackles.
Morton had 147 yards rushing and 57 passing for 204 total yards.
“I thought we did a good job on defense except that one long run,” Hanna said. “For somebody to beat us, they are going to have to play for four quarters because we have had to play four quarters every game.”
