Leopards pounce on ‘Cats in cross-county thriller

The 2-5 Hobbton Wildcats traveled to take on the 5-3 Lakewood Leopards, and the hometown team took the game in an instant-classic game for the record books, with a final score of 34-30.

Lakewood received the opening kickoff, meaning that Hobbton would receive it at halftime.

Joe Corbett kicked off for Hobbton, and Cooper Ivey had a marginal return, giving Lakewood the ball at their own 28-yard line to start the game. Calvin Lacewell, Jr. was back in action for the Leopards, and it was he who took the first handoff. However, on just the second play of the game, his helmet came off on a run, and he appeared to be shaken up. Chris Carr took over on running duties, as he had previously this season when Lacewell was injured.

A holding penalty on Lakewood and a facemask from Hobbton set the Leopards up for second-and-about-two in the opening drive, but Chris Carr grabbed the line to gain on a run.

It was Carr who was called on for a run shortly after the conversion, and he scooted through the Wildcat defense for about a 40-yard score. After the Leopards tried for two, and failed, it was a 6-0 Lakewood ball game with 9:13 left in the first quarter.

Lakewood’s William Acosta pinned Hobbton deep on the ensuing kickoff, giving them the ball on their own 20-yard line. The Wildcats couldn’t make much of the field position deep in their own territory, as they got little progress on the drive.

On fourth down, Joe Corbett dropped back to pass over the middle, but Dashaun Carr was there for the interception, returning it to the Wildcat 24.

Calvin Lacewell was back in the game for Lakewood on this drive, and he picked up as many yards as he could, but the Leopards were faced with a fourth down of their own. Reed Ammons dropped back in the pass and connected with Dontavius Smith, but they couldn’t get the line to gain.

On the ensuing drive from the Wildcats, they started to dink-and-dunk their way down the field, a signature move of coach Joe Salas’ air raid offense, utilizing short passes to gain small chunks of yardage, to continuously move the ball.

The Wildcats were poised to strike in fourth-and-two at the 12-yard line before Lakewood’s John Holt empathically called for the Leopards’ first timeout of the half with 1:01 remaining in the opening quarter.

Hobbton converted the fourth, and one play later, they struck pay dirt, making it a 6-6 ball game with 39.7 seconds left in the first. The Wildcats failed the PAT, leaving the score tied.

The score stayed parked with a tie as the first quarter came to a close, and it was Lakewood with possession.

The drive from the Leopards continued into the second, and it was Lacewell who found himself bullying his way into the end zone on a short run, after being downed at the one the play before. As the clock showed 9:54 left in the opening half, Lakewood led, 13-6, after a successful PAT from Acosta.

Hobbton’s Reggie Thompson hurdled his way to the Wildcats’ own 40-yard line on the kickoff return, but was flagged for the penalty after doing so.

Corbett connected with Ethan Bridges for a moonshot of a pass, giving them the ball at the Lakewood 21.

Struggling to get his defense in position after the Wildcats were knocking on the door, John Holt signaled for the second Lakewood timeout of the half at 7:20.

Defensive adjustments for the Leopards were for naught, as Reggie Thompson lined up at quarterback and took the ball into the end zone at 7:16. After a delay of game penalty on the PAT attempt, Joe Corbett had his kick blocked trying to tie up the game. This made it a 13-12 game in Lakewood’s favor.

The Leopards turned to the passing game on the next possession, but quarterback Reed Ammons couldn’t get with his targets. Faced with fourth-and-twenty, Lakewood elected to kick the game’s first punt. Due to a low snap, the kick was low and didn’t travel much further than the line to gain, and the Wildcats took over at their own 39.

Hobbton grabbed a first down on the drive, thanks to a Lakewood offsides penalty, but a fumble pushed them well behind the sticks. This only slowed down their progress – not stopping it entirely – as Corbett found Anthony Cowell on a deep pass down the left sideline.

A Corbett keeper up the middle resulted in the Wildcats having another goal-to-go situation. The Leopard defense held strong, and Hobbton turned the ball over at the Lakewood four-yard line.

The ensuing drive ended in disaster for Lakewood, as an errant pass from Ammons was intercepted by Jaiveon McMillan from Hobbton with just 1:28 to go in the half.

Setting up shop just inside the Leopards’ 40, Hobbton looked to make quick work and score. They moved the ball down to the Lakewood 20, before the drive stalled out on fourth-and-five with 42.8 seconds left.

Corbett launched a deep ball just out of reach for a wide-open Amir Tate, which ended the Wildcats’ hopes of taking the lead late in the first half.

As the half ended, Lakewood held onto their lead, 13-12.

Hobbton took the second half kickoff to their own 30-yard line, and they made quick work on a 25-yard run to give them the ball just over the 50. Corbett connected with Tate once more on a long pass, setting the Wildcats up at the Lakewood 18.

A bubble screen attempt from Corbett was nearly intercepted by Lakewood’s Jeremiah Kerr, but it was bobbled and dropped. This set up a third-and-ten for the visiting Wildcats. Corbett connected with Thompson on a crossing route for the first down and worked the ‘Cats to another short goal-to-go.

Showing off their passing game, Corbett found Tate for a quick strike in the end zone, making it an 18-13 game in their favor. They attempted the fake field goal for the PAT, but Corbett couldn’t find his receiver, and the score remained the same with 9:09 left in the third quarter.

Dontavious Smith took the kickoff for Lakewood, and worked the ball all the way to the Hobbton 30-yard line. Chris Carr carried the workload for the Lakewood drive, and they made quick work of it. It was a short run from Nakai Owens that gave the home team a 20-18 lead with 7:45 remaining in the third after another successful Acosta PAT.

Noticeably missing on the Leopards’ last drive, though, was Calvin Lacewell, Jr.

Hobbton’s Joe Salas called a timeout with 6:47 remaining in the quarter, leaving the Wildcats with just two for the remainder of the half.

The Leopards’ defense forced a punt from Hobbton on fourth-and-long from Corbett, which only traveled about 20 yards.

Carr and Owens continued to be the primary ballcarriers for Lakewood as they continued to run the ball and push down the field. As they continued to advance on their next drive, Salas called for a timeout once more to re-adjust his defense at the 2:34 mark still in the third.

Owens struck for his second touchdown in the same amount of drives on a long rush up the right side coming out of the timeout with 1:58 on the clock in the opening quarter of the second half. Acosta’s PAT was good, and it was a 27-18 lead for the Leopards.

The third quarter ended with no more scoring, but Lakewood was knocking on the door once more.

Owens went back-to-back-to-back in scoring for the Leopards, after a short run extended their lead to 34-18 on the successful PAT from Acosta with 11:28 remaining in game.

Corbett found Thompson on a shallow slant that led to Thompson finding his way down the field on a big catch-and-run on the ensuing possession, and a contested ball on a fourth-and-fifteen found Thompson’s hands once more. This gave Hobbton the ball at the Lakewood 15, but a Wildcat fumble gave the ball back to Lakewood.

A long run from Carr gave Lakewood prime field position to strike again, but it was negated due to a penalty.

After the penalty, Lakewood couldn’t overcome the deficit, and were forced to punt. A partial block from Hobbton gave them possession just outside the red zone.

A defensive penalty from Lakewood gave the Wildcats the ball deep into the red zone. Corbett found Thompson in the back corner of the end zone, who did his best Randy Moss impression, going over the top of the defender for the score. This made it a 34-24 ball game, with Lakewood still leading and just 6:56 left in the game. The two-point try from Hobbton was no good.

Hobbton utilized the onside kick after the touchdown, and the Leopards muffed it. The Wildcats recovered at the 45-yard line of Lakewood.

After multiple big sacks, Hobbton was faced with fourth-and-super-long, a down which saw them try the hook-and-ladder, but were stopped just short of the first down.

It was the Corbett-Thompson show on the next Hobbton drive, but it was ultimately Bridges that hauled in a touchdown pass with 1:49 to go. Nakai Owens intercepted Corbett on the two-point try, which made it a 34-30 ball game.

Hobbton tried the onside kick once again, but Lakewood was there for the clean recovery.

Lakewood stuck to the ground to run out the clock and securing the home field victory on senior night, 34-30 over the Wildcats.

“Gotta get to work on Monday,” Hobbton’s Joe Salas said after the game. “Our tailback [Daniel Aguilar] went down early in the first half, so we gotta get him healthy. Gotta have a running game in a big game, so we got work to do on Monday; we’ve got homecoming coming up, so we have to get our act together.”

Lakewood moved to 6-3 on the season and 2-1 in Carolina 1A Conference play. Hobbton moved to 2-6 overall and 0-2 in the conference.