Dragons earn season opening victory over Lutheran East
· Yahoo Sports
LYNDHURST — A year of maturity made a difference Saturday evening for the Lakeside Dragons. Playing freshmen and sophomores last year led to some growth in a 14-7 victory over Lutheran East.
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The Dragons defense held Lutheran East to just seven points by staying on their assignments and not freelancing, said Lakeside football coach Terry Henton.
“We talked all summer about putting in the work,” Henton said of the team earning a chance to play winning football.
He said as long as they play as a team they have a chance.
“Everybody [on defense] is on a chain,” Henton said. “You can’t go any where alone.”
Henton said an emphasis on “responsibility football” is a seasonal goal for the Dragons.
Another plan is to make sure Lakeside has a more well-balanced offense. “Our offensive line gained some weight and we put it on them,” he said, of the hope of running the football and not having to throw every down.
“Last year we didn’t have a choice,” Henton said.
The game took place at Brush High School, as Lutheran East does not have lights at their field, and has only a small set of bleachers.
The game was hard-fought from the outset, but both teams had spells of sloppy play with plenty of penalties.
Lakeside went ahead 7-0 with a run by Masceo Bolles and an extra point by Baileigh Wimer.
Lutheran East, however, couldn’t capitalize until late in the second quarter after having back-to-back delay of game and false start penalties.
The Falcons got rolling with several long passes, including a touchdown strike at 2:40 to go and hit the extra point that bounced off the goal post and through the goal to tie the game.
That didn’t last too long, as Lakeside quarterback JJ Murphy hit Dae’veon Gaines for a 90-yard touchdown pass to give the Dragons a 14-7 lead, which lasted the rest of the game.
The second half included more penalties and more turnovers, but Lakeside stayed ahead of Lutheran East with some hard hits and stops at critical times in the game.
Lutheran East starting quarterback Lawrence Davis-Dillardo was injured late in the game, and Jeremiah Turner entered the game and made some strong running plays to keep the Falcons in the game.
The Falcons got the ball with 2:07 to go on their own 38, and started the drive with an incomplete pass, followed by a penalty and an incomplete pass.
Lutheran East’s final play was a fourth and 18 with 35 seconds to go. The pass was complete but they were not able to get the first down, so Murphy took a knee the clock ran out.
Lakeside starts CVC Lake Division play Friday with a home game against Geneva.