Lake coach Tate Hanna tried to tell his team to expect a tough game out of Newton, despite their record.
Hanna was exactly right as Lake led just 14-6 at the half before pulling away to take a 43-14 win over the Tigers on Friday night.
With the win, Lake improves to 7-1 on the season while Newton falls to 0-9. Lake will host Union on Friday night while Newton travels to Philadelphia for the regular-season finale.
Lake coach Tate Hanna said it was just a slow first half.
“It was just slow, both teams ate up a lot of clock,” Hanna said. “We didn’t have any explosive plays like we did in the second half and Newton did a good job of eating up the clock. And we gave up too many big plays on defense. I give Newton a lot of credit, they played hard and got after us. But we just didn’t play a very good first half.”
The action was slow to start the game as each team punted twice while Newton lost a fumble that was recovered by Lake’s Johnny Johnson.
Newton found the end zone first Tyreke Snow scored on a 6-yard run to cap off a six-play, 42-yard drive. The try for two failed and Newton held a 6-0 lead.
After a pair of punts, Lake finally found the end zone as they went 61 yards in 11 plays. The Hornets capped off the drive as Brady McGee hit Zywon Ledbetter on a 32-yard pass play. Frank Pazos booted the PAT and Lake led 7-6.
The Hornets attempted an onside kick and came up with the ball. They went on another long drive as they went 48 yards in 10 plays. After McGee hit Ledbetter on a 20-yard pass play, Johnny Johnson scored on a 2-yard run. Pazos kicked the PAT and Lake led 14-6 at the half.
“I just wasn’t pleased with our effort, attitude or intensity,” Hanna said. “We dropped balls, we missed tackles and just didn’t play well. But we finally came out and started to run the ball better in the second half and were able to hit some big plays.”
Lake got the ball to start the second half and started to put the game away as they went 60 yards in 11 plays as McGee hit Danarrious Hughes on a 21-yard touchdown pass with 6:05 left in the third. The try for two was good and Lake led 22-6.
But Newton answered back as Snow hit a 17-yard touchdown pass to cap off a five-play, 51-yard drive. Snow completed the two-point conversion and the Tigers trailed 22-14.
But it was all Lake from that point on as the Hornets went 71 yards in four plays on the next drive. After Cronelius Mayers ripped off a 50-yard run, the sophomore running back finished the drive with a 3-yard run. Pazos PAT was good and Lake led 29-14.
Lake drove all the way to the Newton 1 on their next drive before turning the ball over on downs. But Newton gave it right by as Kolin Ramzi came up with an interception. From there, Ethan Gray scored on a 2-yard run and Pazos’ PAT made the score 36-14.
Lake’s last score came late in the fourth when Ledbetter took a short pass from McGee and raced 86 yards for a touchdown. Pazos’ PAT made the final of 43-14.
Lake had 207 yards rushing led by Mayers with 99 yards on 10 carries. Johnny Johnson had 59 yards on 23 carries while J.D. Evans had 29 on three carries.
McGee was 10-of-16 passing for 171 yards with three touchdowns while Ledbetter had six catches for 156 yards.
Johnson also had 7 1/2 tackles on defense while Shelton Porter had 6 1/2 tackles. Ramzi and Hughes each had interceptions while Mayers to a fumble recovery.
