Lamar quarterback Witt Haggard threw for 255 yards and two touchdowns Friday night in Meridian to lead the #1 ranked Lamar Raiders to a convincing 43-7 win over the AAA Starkville Volunteers. Haggard also added 38 yards rushing and two touchdowns on the ground in a contest that was decided by halftime. The Raiders scored on their opening drive as Haggard ran in from 4 yards out to put Lamar up 7-0 with 8:29 remaining in the opening quarter. Starkville took over on their initial possession of the game at their own 26 yard line and managed to push to the 44 but the drive stalled. On 4th down and 7 the Volunteers’ punt was blocked by Lamar’s William Fulton giving the ball to the Raiders at the Starkville 33 yard line with 4:18 in the quarter. Haggard would get his second touchdown on the ground two minutes later on a 4th and 1 at the Volunteer 5 yard line. Tyler Roberts would add the PAT to extend the lead to 14-0. Starkville’s next possession came up dry and with just 30 seconds remaining in the quarter a Volunteer punt was muffed and Starkville recovered at the Lamar 39 yard line. Starkville moved to the Lamar 20 yard line as the opening quarter ended.
Starkville’s best scoring opportunity came just two minutes into the second quarter but a 39 yard field goal went wide. Lamar would regain possession at their own 20 yard line and crisply put together an 80 yard drive capped off by John McElroy’s 6 yard sprint around the right side and after a successful PAT the Raiders led 21-0 with 8:04 left in the half. Starkville would have no answer as they were forced to punt again. Lamar would then put together a 77 yard drive culminating on a 7 yard pass from Haggard to wide-out Charlie Nosco to put the Raiders on top 28-0 with just over five minutes left in the half. Starkville managed to move the ball from their own 35 yard line to the Lamar 48 but were forced to punt once again. A Starkville punt pinned Lamar back on their own 7 yard line with 1:06 remaining. It didn’t seem to daunt Lamar as senior Witt Haggard hit senior wide-out Bo Bidgood in stride on a post route that covered 93 yards to put the Raiders up 35-0 heading into halftime.
After Starkville was forced to put on their opening possession of the second half Lamar rolled out a 74 yard drive ending on a Bo Bidgood 8 yard scamper with just under 7 minutes left in the third quarter. A fumbled hold on the extra point attempt would result in a Haggard vault around the right side for a two point conversion to push the lead to 43-0. Starkville’s only points came at the 58 second mark of the third quarter as wide-out Kyle Henson took it in from two yards out. A successful PAT left the deficit at 43-7. The final quarter resulted in no scoring as the clock continually ran and reserves dominated play.Bo Bidgood had six catches for 145 yards and one touchdown catch and he added a rushing touchdown. Lamar finished the night with 424 total yards and will hit the road next week against Central Hinds in a battle of 2-0 squads.
