Photo by Jim Cayer
Despite yet another slow start for Lakewood, the Moore League Champions cruised in the second half and took out Newport Harbor, 41-17, in the first round of the CIF Pac-5 Playoffs. The Lancers spotted the Sailors 10 points after just five plays, but 221 yards on the ground and more stingy defense from the Red Swarm was the difference as Lakewood advances to the quarterfinals where they will face Bishop Amat, the #1 seed from the Serra League.
At-large bid Newport Harbor got the spark they needed on the opening kickoff when sophomore Buzzy Yokoyama went 94 yards untouched for the touchdown. The Sailor defense maintained the early momentum and got another big play on the Lancers’ first play from scrimmage. Austin Turner put his hat on the ball when Jesse Scroggins found Ron Lewis on a swing pass, and linebacker Ryan Iverson recovered the fumble at the Lakewood 22-yard line. The Lakewood defense held for a three-and-out to force a 35-yard field goal by Dillan Freiberg, and in a blink of an eye (1:55 to be exact) it was 10-0 Newport Harbor.
The veteran Lancers didn’t panic and stuck with the game plan: pound that rock. All three Lakewood running backs (Alley Long, Rashad Wadood, Terrance Woods) touched the ball on the ensuing 11 play, 80 yard touchdown drive that included only two pass plays and was punctuated by a two-yard plunge from Woods.
“I thought we executed very well on offense,” said coach Thadd MacNeal of his unit that racked up 455 total yards. “Our trio of backs is like… Alley is our Steady Eddie, Wadood is our slasher, and T-Woods is our sneaker with the way he gets lost in there… all three are very good, but we knew we needed to get Woods the ball, so we did.”
Woods carried the ball 15 times and scored twice while gaining 107 yards as he lined up at running back and the slot position. Any time he got the ball coming in motion, the corner was almost inevitably his.
With the score still 10-7 at the beginning of the second quarter the Lakewood special teams made amends for the opening kickoff when the Sailors made the mistake of kicking to Darius Powe. The sophomore sensation made one cut at midfield and went 70-yards for the go-ahead touchdown.
The Lancer defense came back out to force one of five Sailor three-and-outs on the night, and that was Scroggins’ cue to go to work. The future Trojan carried ball for five yards on the first play, and then threw three straight completions of 11, 17 and 44 yards to three different receivers. The last pass to Kevin Anderson put the Lancers on the two-yard line. Scroggins took the next snap and fell into the end zone to make it 21-10. He finished the night 15-for-19 for 234 yards and a touchdown (nine carries, 27 yards, TD). Anderson led all receivers with six catches for 119 yards.
After a Sailor touchdown on a tipped pass, it was 21-17 Lancers at the half, but in the second half the Pac-5’s top defense flexed their muscle. Justin Utupo led the way as the Red Swarm knocked starting quarterback Austin Rios out of the game, and didn’t allow any points in the second half—holding Newport to 38 yards in the final 24 minutes.
Newport was without their regular starting running back Cedric Whitaker, who sat out with a knee bruise. The Lancers did an amazing job of shifting the coverage to the strong side where the other Newport offensive star Cecil Whiteside was lining up. The 6’3” senior only touched the ball twice—both catches in the first half for 36 yards. The Sailors had only one completion after the one tipped touchdown pass from Rios to Kellen Truxton.