Turnovers haunt Lamar in loss to Leake

For Southern Sports & Travel, By Daniel Balint

The Leake Rebels and the Lamar Raiders got together Friday night to go head to head for the 2nd seed in the 3AA division. The winner would get Marshall in the first round of the playoffs and a possible home playoff game, the loser would get to go to Simpson and in the words of Raider coach Mac Barnes, "No one wants to go there." It was a bad night for Lamar all around and it started from the beginning. The opening kick was fumbled by Lamar return man Gane Duggan, who was playing with a broken thumb and a cast on his hand. The Raider defense came up with a stop on the first drive however, forcing Leake to bring in Dylan Alford for a 32 yard field goal attempt. Alford, who hit a 58 yard field goal in warmups, had plenty of leg but missed it wide right. The Raiders escaped, but only for a short while. On the 2nd play of Lamar's opening drive, QB Tyler Harris took a quarterback keeper off right tackle and was met with a crushing blow that forced a fumble. Leake recovered and set up shop at Lamar's 29. It took the Rebs 2 plays to find the endzone as fullback Tanner Winstead ran it in from 29 yards out with 8:35 to play in the opening frame. The Raiders responded however, putting together a 9 play 70 yard drive that culminated in Tyler Harris finding split end Charlie Nosco from 10 yards out for the score. The point after was missed by Tyler Roberts and Leake still has the lead with 6:18 to play in the first. The ensuing drives of the 1st half by both teams would decide the game. Lamar's following two drives were both 3 and outs and 2 punts by JC McElroy. Leake however, scored on their next 4 possessions, going 8 plays and 65 yards, 6 plays and 47 yards, 7 plays and 73 yards and finally 4 plays and 5 yards, the last being set up by another Lamar turnover at their own 5 yard line. Lamar managed to roll up 19 points in the second quarter, highlighted by another Nosco touchdown catch good for 37 yards and 2 JC McElroy touchdown catches of 65 and 47 yards. The halftime score is 35-25. Despite Lamar trailing by only 10 at the break, the Raiders never seemed to really get into the game. Leake finished the game the way a good team does, forcing 2 more Lamar turnovers, for a total of 5 in the game and outscoring Lamar 21-6 in the 2nd half. Brad Hunter put 2 touchdowns on the board in the 2nd half with Tanner Winstead adding another. The only scoring for Lamar came with 8:14 to play in the 4th when Nosco reeled in another touchdown catch of 11 yards. Leake rolled in the 2nd half for a 56-31 win over Lamar to take the 2nd seed in division 3AA. For Lamar, Tyler Harris went 16/26 for 347 yards, 5 touchdowns and 1 interception. Charlie Nosco caught 6 balls for 121 yards and 3 scores with JC McElroy hauling in 8 balls for 193 yards and 2 scores. Lamar had more offensive yards than Leake, rolling up 470 yards of offense to Leakes' 419, but the 5 turnovers were too much to overcome for the Raiders. Leake scored 28 points off the 5 turnovers and that sealed the deal. The loss for Lamar sets up a rematch of the 2009 North State Title Game between the Cougars and the Raiders. After the game Coach Barnes talked about the game with Simpson, "A lot of teams would rather not face Simpson in the first round, but we aren't scared. "We are gonna line it up and go right after them."