Courtesy of The Meridian Star
The Lamar Raiders celebrated homecoming Friday by making quick work of Newton County Academy.
With the Generals visiting Grey Cobb Field, Lamar scored on six of its first seven possessions and rolled 49-12.
"They're a hard-nosed scrappy team and we knew it was going to be tough tonight," Lamar coach Mac Barnes said after his 251st career win. "."
Using a fourth-down offsides penalty from NCA to keep their first drive alive, the Raiders went 65 yards in seven plays to take the lead early. Tyler Harris capped it with a 39-yard touchdown pass to Gane Duggan, the first of three passing scores from the senior. Lamar's lone empty drive before the final one of the half came with 7:32 left in the first and helped lead to the Generals' first score. Taking over on its own 42, NCA pulled within one when Dillon Williams broke loose for a 52-yard scamper on third down.
"That was about it," Generals coach Robert Roberts said. "That's about all we did. They had our number."
From there, though, it was all Raiders. Corey Skinner ended the next two drives with runs of 1 and 11 yards as Lamar led 21-6 after the first quarter. Neither drive lasted longer than two minutes.
And the Raiders (5-2) didn't slow down any in the second quarter. Harris again hit Duggan, this time from 37 yards, for a touchdown on Lamar's first possession of the period. Harris, who finished 14 of 23 for 231 yards, completed all five of his passes on the drive.
Barrett Dudley, who rushed for 40 yards and threw for 29 more, hit Michael Marcello on a 3-yard scoring pass to make it 35-6 with 6:14 left in the half. Dudley accounted for all but a 5-yard run from Shane Blanton on the seven-play, 30-yard drive.
"They are tough," Roberts said. "They just outmanned us. They beat us passing, they beat us running. They're just a good team."
The Generals, who fell to 4-2, would get there final score on the next drive. Taking advantage of a pair of Lamar personal foul penalties, NCA needed just 1:16 to go 70 yards. The drive ended on a 4-yard Kizer Ables run. Ables finished with 33 yards on eight carries as the Generals mustered just 123 yards of offense — 98 coming on Williams' 19 carries.
"The one thing about our team I still don't like is we have lapses, mental mistakes and we have to work on," Barnes said. "It's your seventh game of the season and you have to eliminate those.
"That's a good team in Class A and I think they'll go far. I hope we can go far in AA.
"Williams made some good 5-10-12 yard runs. They played hard."
Lamar, though, again had the answer. And what an answer it was. One play after Skinner dashed 22 yards — the junior had a team-high 73 on 14 carries — Harris hit Chase Davis on a 5-yard touchdown. Davis, though, twisted around for the throw behind him and grabbed the high liner with one hand as he was getting tackled by the defensive back.
"He had some real catches tonight," Barnes said. "We've got some good athletes and if we can put it all together, I think we have a chance to go far."
On the lone scoring drive in the second half — which game with 10:07 left — Davis made another acrobatic catch for 15 yards from Dudley. That drive ended when Blanton rushed in from 7 yards out.
Lamar finished with 443 yards of offense — 183 rushing on 34 carries.
With the Generals visiting Grey Cobb Field, Lamar scored on six of its first seven possessions and rolled 49-12.
"They're a hard-nosed scrappy team and we knew it was going to be tough tonight," Lamar coach Mac Barnes said after his 251st career win. "."
Using a fourth-down offsides penalty from NCA to keep their first drive alive, the Raiders went 65 yards in seven plays to take the lead early. Tyler Harris capped it with a 39-yard touchdown pass to Gane Duggan, the first of three passing scores from the senior. Lamar's lone empty drive before the final one of the half came with 7:32 left in the first and helped lead to the Generals' first score. Taking over on its own 42, NCA pulled within one when Dillon Williams broke loose for a 52-yard scamper on third down.
"That was about it," Generals coach Robert Roberts said. "That's about all we did. They had our number."
From there, though, it was all Raiders. Corey Skinner ended the next two drives with runs of 1 and 11 yards as Lamar led 21-6 after the first quarter. Neither drive lasted longer than two minutes.
And the Raiders (5-2) didn't slow down any in the second quarter. Harris again hit Duggan, this time from 37 yards, for a touchdown on Lamar's first possession of the period. Harris, who finished 14 of 23 for 231 yards, completed all five of his passes on the drive.
Barrett Dudley, who rushed for 40 yards and threw for 29 more, hit Michael Marcello on a 3-yard scoring pass to make it 35-6 with 6:14 left in the half. Dudley accounted for all but a 5-yard run from Shane Blanton on the seven-play, 30-yard drive.
"They are tough," Roberts said. "They just outmanned us. They beat us passing, they beat us running. They're just a good team."
The Generals, who fell to 4-2, would get there final score on the next drive. Taking advantage of a pair of Lamar personal foul penalties, NCA needed just 1:16 to go 70 yards. The drive ended on a 4-yard Kizer Ables run. Ables finished with 33 yards on eight carries as the Generals mustered just 123 yards of offense — 98 coming on Williams' 19 carries.
"The one thing about our team I still don't like is we have lapses, mental mistakes and we have to work on," Barnes said. "It's your seventh game of the season and you have to eliminate those.
"That's a good team in Class A and I think they'll go far. I hope we can go far in AA.
"Williams made some good 5-10-12 yard runs. They played hard."
Lamar, though, again had the answer. And what an answer it was. One play after Skinner dashed 22 yards — the junior had a team-high 73 on 14 carries — Harris hit Chase Davis on a 5-yard touchdown. Davis, though, twisted around for the throw behind him and grabbed the high liner with one hand as he was getting tackled by the defensive back.
"He had some real catches tonight," Barnes said. "We've got some good athletes and if we can put it all together, I think we have a chance to go far."
On the lone scoring drive in the second half — which game with 10:07 left — Davis made another acrobatic catch for 15 yards from Dudley. That drive ended when Blanton rushed in from 7 yards out.
Lamar finished with 443 yards of offense — 183 rushing on 34 carries.
