The Lakewood Lancers had a whole barrel of hype coming into this season, and they delivered.  Despite dropping their opener at Crenshaw, the Lancers finally got over on the Jackrabbits and grabbed the #4 overall seed headed into the CIF Playoffs.

What does all that mean?  They get to face Newport Harbor at home in the first round tonight at 7pm.

Don’t be fooled by the Sailors 6-4 record, they’ve lost to teams like Edison and Fountain Valley.  The Lancer defense will have to key on running back Cedric Whitaker.  Coach Thadd MacNeal said this week that after watching film he thinks Whitaker (#28) is one of the best running backs the Lancers will see.  The junior has 967 yards on just 138 carries (7 yard average) and 13 touchdowns.  Even though they are almost 2-to-1 ratio run-to-pass, the Sailors are at their best when they get receivers Parker Norton (#6) and Cecil Whiteside (#2) involved.  Norton has 35 catches for 285 yards and five touchdowns in his junior year and Whiteside has 27 catches for 341 yards and four touchdowns in his senior year.  Junior quarterback Austin Rios (#7) has good numbers (113-for-187 and 1205 yards, 11TD) but he’s proven his worth most in crunch time, especially against Loyola and Los Alamitos. 

For the Lancers on offense they will see a stout front seven all night.  Led by the two Ryan’s at linebacker (Iverson and Andrews, 87 combined tackles) the Sailors have forced teams to throw over them, where Whiteside and a veteran secondary is waiting.  The big Lancer offensive line will need to stay hungry because the big run plays for Lakewood might not come until the second half.  Running backs Alley Long, Rashad Wadood and Terrance Woods will continue to rotate behind Jesse Scroggins, but the short passing game and big yards after the catch could prove valuable.  Watch out for sophomore Darius Powe to have a big game in the YAC department.

The winner will see the winner of the Bishop Amat and Mater Dei.