All the penalties, mental mistakes and silly decisions aside, Saturday evening’s game at Compton Centennial High School between host Verbum Dei (0-3) and Lakewood was over before it began.  The Lancers (4-0) held the Eagles under 200 yards total offense and amassed 459 yards themselves on their way to a 34-0 victory.

The night belonged to Lakewood’s offensive line and budding star Jerry Stone, who finished the night with 207 yards on 15 carries.  Hogs Dillon Kellison, Kelly Harpham, Casey Harpham, Anthony Bolanos, and Robert Brothers continuously opened up crater-sized holes for Stone, while keeping quarterback Jesse Scroggins on his feet all night.

The Lancer scoring started in the first quarter when Scroggins flipped the ball to Kevin Anderson coming in motion.  The junior receiver took the pitch around the corner and went 36 yards for the touchdown.

On Verbum Dei’s first possession of the second quarter, the Eagles decided to go for it on fourth down on their own 45-yard line with the score still 7-0.  Quarterback Omar Herrera bobbled the snap, and before he could look down field, Lakewood linebacker Trevor Erno put him down on his back.  Four plays later, Stone took it into the end zone from five yards out for the first of his three scores, and the rout was on.

The game could’ve been worse than a 34-0 shutout, as the two teams combined for 22 penalties, and almost 150 penalty yards.  That’s the second week in a row Lakewood has tallied double-digit penalties.

“We feel pretty good right now,” said Stone through an epic grin after the game.  “We need to pick things up a notch for next week, though.”

Next week means Poly for the Lancers, and that means the offense and defense will need to build on this momentum, and demolish their mistakes if they want to snap the Jackrabbits 73-game Moore League win streak.