The Lakewood Leopards varsity football team squared off against the Bulldogs of Princeton under the bright lights Friday night. Lakewood dominated both sides of the ball, securing their second straight win as they put up 48 points and held Princeton to just 14.
Lakewood continued to keep the pedal to the metal in the second half despite having a comfortable 13-point lead, and used a perfectly thrown fade by Zach Tanner to wide receiver Camron Sessoms in the corner of the end zone to go up 20-0 after a successful extra point with 6:39 remaining in the third quarter.
However, the Bulldogs would not go away without a fight, scoring off a speedy run by running back Earl Gibson to tighten the lead up 20-8 after a two-point conversion with 11:27 in the fourth quarter.
Then, it happened. Lakewood found their footing and killed any momentum Princeton had, scoring 28 points in the final 11 and a half minutes.
On the very first play of Lakewood’s drive after the Bulldogs put their first points up on the board, running back Carsell Bennett scored on a 51-yard scamper, and then would run it in untouched on a two-point try. The Leopards would score off another dime from Tanner to Sessoms, and then put the game away for good after a fumble return for a touchdown by Akili Underwood to make it 42-8 Lakewood with 7:40 remaining. The Bulldogs struggled with ball security all night, putting it on the ground a whopping four times.
After a 5-yard touchdown plunge by Princeton running back Matthew Stallworth with 50 seconds remaining in the game, Quamaine Williams took a failed onside kick the distance to score the last touchdown of the night and put the score at 48-14.
James Lewis called the win the “most complete game we’ve played all year.” Despite not playing in three weeks, in large part due to the effects of Hurricane Matthew, his team showed no rust and clicked on all cylinders. Lewis credited his defensive line for their stellar goal line stands.
His team is on pace to make the playoffs as they improve to 6-3 overall and 3-1 in their conference with the win.
The Lakewood Leopards will face off against their rival in Hobbton next Friday night at home at 7 p.m.
The Princeton Bulldogs fall to 4-5 overall, yet have only lost one conference game and still have a solid 3-1 conference rank. Despite getting blown out for the most part on Friday night, Princeton head coach Travis Gaster heaped praise on his offense for how efficiently they moved the ball.
“I think we moved the ball well until we turned it over, and for some reason we just went cold here in the red zone,” Gaster said.
Offensively for the Leopards, Bennett had 10 carries for 72 yards; Quamaine Williams had two carries for 61 yards; Dre Oates had six carries for 56 yards; and Tanner tallied 55 yards on four carries. Tanner had seven completions on nine attempts for 178 yards and two touchdowns. Williams had one attempt that went for a touchdown.
Tanner led Lakewood in receiving, racking up 62 yards and one touchdown on a single reception, but Sessoms led the team in receiving touchdowns, recording two to go along with 58 yards on three catches. Oates had one catch for 39 yards, William Peete amassed 16 yards on one catch, and Cameron Bryant had 15 yards on one catch.
For the Bulldogs, Earl Gibson led the team in rushing with 99 yards on 14 carries to go along with a touchdown, Stallworth had 83 yards on 14 carries with a TD, and Brandon Ward had 66 yards on eight carries. Adam Crocker tossed for 86 yards on 3-of-10 passing with two INTs.
Defensively for Lakewood, Luke Brewer led the team in tackles with 11, while Tristan Holmes had nine tackles and one fumble recovery.
