Second-year Lake coach Tate Hanna kept telling his team two things last week.
First, the Hornets had to hold onto the football. And the Hornets had to stop Pelahatchie quarterback Javeious Purvis.
The Hornets weren’t able to do either on Friday night as Pelahatchie took a 38-16 win in the season opener for both teams.
After some turnover issues last week against Newton County, the Hornets struggled holding onto the ball on offense again with six turnovers.
“It wasn’t good at all,” Hanna said. “We had six turnovers and you can’t do that and win football games. I don’t know if we are harping on it too much but that’s one thing that we have to improve on if we are going to win football games. I know the weather had something to with but that’s something you have to deal with. It was wet for them as well.”
Pelahatchie took the lead early as running back Jamal Johnson scored on a 14-yard run and scored on the two-point conversion for an 8-0 lead midway through the first period.
After a lost fumble by Lake, Pelahatchie went 44 yards in seven plays as Johnson scored on a 9-yard run and ran in the two-point conversion to go up 16-0.
“We didn’t do as good as I thought we would against the run,” Hanna said. “The quarterback hurt us in the end. I think the lack of offense left the defense on the field too much and they hurt us in the end.”
After trailing 16-0, the Hornets fought back. First, they scored before the end of the first half with a 10-play, 68-yard drive as D’Alex Jennings scored on a 3-yard run. Jennings also ran in the two-point conversion and cut the lead to 16-8, which held until the half.
In the second half, the Hornets tied the game after recovering a Pelahatchie fumble. It took two plays for the Hornets to go 21 yards as Ethan Gray scored on an 8-yard run. Gray also ran in the two-point conversion to tie the game at 16-16.
“We had chances,” Hanna said. “Their quarterback was cramping up in the second half and I thought we had the momentum. I thought we were in better shape but then fumbled the ball and threw an interception. I have been doing this for 18 years and have never had this problem before. We are going to work on it and get better. And I will still say we are further along than we were this time last year. But you can’t make mistakes and beat good teams.”
With the game tied, Lake had the ball twice and turned the ball over on downs and was forced to punt.
Pelahatchie finally broke the tie quarter. Javeious Purvis scored on an 8-yard run to take a 24-16 lead in the fourth.
Lake then took a shot on a halfback pass that was intercepted. Pelahatchie then made Lake pay as Purvis scored on a 42-yard run to take a 31-16 lead.
“They had just scored and had the momentum and I thought we needed to take a shot to try and get back in the game,” Hanna said. “I probably shouldn’t have made that call right there. But when you are fumbling the call, you are kind of scratching your head trying to figure out what plays you can call. We had opportunities and just didn’t get it done.
The Chieftains went on to tack on another score to extend the lead to 38-16.
Pelahatchie finished the night with 300 yards rushing as Purvis had 102 yards on 10 carries while Johnson had 126 yards rushing on 16 carries. Purvis was 9-of-14 passing for 144 yards to give Pelahatchie 444 total yards.
This week’s game
The Hornets will go on the road this week to take on Scott County rival Sebastopol, who opened the season with a 38-0 win over Clarkdale.
“I think they are much improved,” Hanna said. “Just watching them in the jamboree and in person, they are playing hard and they are going to expect to win. I think they will be ready to play us hard at their place. Any time it’s in county, it will be a tough matchup. If we do what we are supposed to do, we will be all right.”
