After going 1-9 last year, Lake coach Tate Hanna said any win is a good win.
While not dominant, Lake jumped out to a 21-0 lead and went on to take a 27-17 win over Choctaw Central on Friday night.
With the win, the Hornets improve to 4-1 on the season and will take on Richland this week.
For Hanna and the Hornets, it was another confidence-boasting win.
“I thought we did a little bit better on offense and moved the ball consistently on them,” Hanna said. “We should have been up more like 34-0 at the half and didn’t do a good job of finishing them off. We are still lacking the killer instinct. But a win is a win and we are getting more confident.”
It was one of the Hornets better offensive efforts, especially on the ground as they had 296 yards rushing to go along with 42 yards passing for 338 total yards.
Leading the way on offense was fullback Ethan Gray who had 140 yards rushing on 16 carries while Mark Qualls had 126 yards rushing on 15 carries.
“This is just Ethan’s third week to play fullback,” Hanna said. “After James Walker got hurt, we had to find somebody there to be our bell cow. He had no idea how to run the football but has done a great job. Mark continues to do a great job and we know that anything can happen when he touches the football.”
With both teams swapping punts in the first quarter, it was early in the second quarter before anybody found the end zone. That’s when Lake needed just three plays to go 75 yards as Qualls finished off the drive with a 38-yard scamper. The PAT failed and Lake led 6-0 with 9:00 left in the first half.
After a quick Choctaw Central three and out, the Hornets got right back at it as they drove 47 yards in two plays as Qualls scored on a 34-yard run with 6:45 left in the half. Qualls ran in the two-point conversion and Lake led 14-0.
After another three-and-out by the Choctaw offense, Lake drove 50 yards in six plays. This time, Mickey Parker called his own number on a bootleg, scoring on a 10-yard run with 2:00 left in the half. Parker’s PAT was good and Lake led 21-0 at the half.
“I thought we had our best week of practice so far,” Hanna said. “I’m proud of the effort they are giving at practice. Right now, we have to continue to work on Lake. You can never be satisfied with where you are at. We have to work on ourselves and work on the things that we did wrong during the week.”
The game turned into a defensive battle in the second half as Choctaw finally got on the scoreboard with 10:33 left in the game on a 33-yard field goal that capped off a 12-play drive.
After Lake turned the ball over on downs, Choctaw used a 13-play, 75-yard drive and scored on a 10-yard run with 2:35 left in the game to make the score 21-10.
Lake recovered the onside kick and scored a few insurance points as Johnny Johnson scored on 35-yard run with 30 seconds left. Parker booted the PAT and led 27-10.
Choctaw added a touchdown with four seconds left on a tipped pass for the final margin.
