The Lincoln County Red Devils won their third game of the year 28-0 over the Lakeside Panthers at BBF, but the game was much closer than the final score indicated.
The kickoff team and the defense arose for the occasion on the game's opening possession and set the tone for the day by keeping the Panthers deep in their own territory with aggressive play. After a three-and-out series and a punt by Lakeside, the Devils' offense took over on their own 20. On their third play QB Alex Ellis hit TE Josh Hollimon downfield for a 70-yard pass play that ended on the Lakeside 4 yard line. After two running attempts by the young Devils failed to score, QB Bo Reed finished the drive by hitting Hollimon for a 5-yard TD. Vance Tarver's PAT gave the Devils a 7-0 lead.
The second quarter saw the Devils and the Panthers swap offenses and defenses regularly while both teams' punt and punt return teams got plenty of work. LC led 7-0 at the half.
"Both teams today gave solid defensive efforts," commented JV Head Coach Kevin Blizzard.
The second half saw the Red Devil offense move the ball a little better than the first. FB Jamereon Green had several good runs up the middle. Late in the second half, Reed threw a TD pass to Darrien West for the second score of the day. After the PAT by Tarver the Devils led 14-0.
Our defense stood strong the entire second half and several players stood out. LB'ers Jamareon Green, Daniel McAllister and Daniel Morris along with DE's Hollimon and Kendrick Anthony kept Lakeside's offense from moving the ball. The interior defensive linemen played tough and were led by Quay Gartrell, Ronell Ferguson and D.J. Bradshaw.
Late in the third quarter, RB Carlos Hearst gave the Devils another score by running off tackle and scoring a long TD. After the PAT by Tarver. Our Devils led 21-0.
The 4th quarter saw the number 2 offense and defense take over. The second defense continued to play hard and kept Lakeside out of the endzone while the number two offense scored the final TD of the day. RB Josh Sims turned a toss sweep into a score by outrunning the defense on a long run to the end zone. Tarver made it 4-for-4 in the PAT department to make the final score 28-0.
"This game did not break open for the Red Devils until late in the third quarter. And It was hard fought by both teams. I never thought we would score 28 points after scoring only 7 points in the first half. Our players really stepped up today on offense and defense and played with a lot of intensity," said Blizzard.
(Our thanks for Coach Kevin Blizzard for the game recap.)