By Staff
SHOESTRING TACKLE – Wayne Academy's Matt Brown looks for running room against the Lamar Raider defense Friday night. PHOTO BY PAULA MERRITT/ THE MERIDIAN STAR
By Ryan Satcher/staff writer
August 24, 2002
WAYNESBORO Sometimes it just takes some confidence and composure to win football games.
The Lamar School Raiders came into Wayne Academy with confidence and played with great composure to come away with a 21-8 victory on Friday night.
Wayne Academy was one of the team's that were used to beating the Raiders. The Jaguars had won nine-out-of-the-last-10 games in the series with the only Lamar victory coming in 1995.
The Raiders scored on their first possession and took an early 7-0 lead. Lamar took possession on its own 26 yard-line. After a 10-yard run by Dylan Anderson, quarterback Drew Moffett hooked up with Daniel Harrison on a long pass to move the Raiders to Wayne's 22 yard-line. The next play Anderson took the toss and went 22 yards for the game's first score.
Lamar also had good field position for the rest of the first half mainly because of good defense. The Jaguars could only move into Raider territory a couple of times and never got past the Lamar 40.
The Raiders went deep into Jaguar territory but mistakes and a missed field goal kept Lamar from scoring and the score at half was 7-0.
Lamar came out in the second half determined to build on its lead. The Raiders took the kickoff and then marched down the field on a 16-play drive. A big play in the drive was when Lamar lined up to go for a fourth down play and got Wayne Academy to jump offsides. The penalty gave the Raiders a first down and kept the drive alive. Lamar finished off the drive with an eight-yard touchdown run by Anderson to make the score 14-0.
The Jaguars finally got on the board with 10:53 left to play in the game. The Raiders lined up to punt from their own 19 yard-line and the snap went over the punter's head and out of the endzone to give Wayne Academy a safety.
The safety made the score 14-2 and really swung the momentum to the Jaguars' favor. Wayne Academy took the free kick after the safety and moved the ball down the field. Jaguar quarterback Garet James found Shawn Dearmon on a 28-yard pass to set up a one-yard touchdown run by Alex Brewer. The run finished off a 60-yard drive and made the score 14-8.
The Raiders made a few mental mistakes to begin their next possession, but came through on a second-and-27 play. Moffett found Daniel Harrison on the right sideline for a 43-yard pass play. The Raiders continued to drive and use up time. Moffett came through with a fourth-down run to keep the drive alive and then finished the drive with an eight-yard run for a touchdown with 1:50 left. The touchdown made the score 21-8 and put the game away from Lamar.
The Raiders,1-0, will travel to face Heidelberg Academy on Friday night. The Rebels will also be 1-0 going into the game. They beat Columbia Academy 7-0 in their season opener on Friday night.