Lakeside owned the first three minutes of
its Region 3-AAAA game at Evans on Friday night. The rest
belonged to Evans, as the Knights dominated their region rival
in a 37-10 win.
"We came into the game knowing that
we were better than them," Evans senior quarterback Kevin
Millward said. "We knew we could pull a lot of points out
of them."
The Panthers mounted a quick 10-0 lead
less than three minutes into the game. A 20-yard field goal by
Michael Combs, and a fumble recovery returned 30 yards for a
touchdown by Tom Mudrak did the damage.
It only got Evans mad.
"There was no panic," Evans
coach Marty Jackson said. "Sure, nobody likes to start off
a game like that, but there was no panic. Not on the sideline,
not with the players on the field."
The Knights climbed out of their hole by
rattling off 24 points in 12 minutes, beginning with a 50-yard
touchdown pass from Millward to Jonathan Nicely with seven
minutes left in the first quarter. A field goal, a 55-yard
touchdown reception by Brandon McCladdie and a 12-yard touchdown
run by Trey Henderson completed the 24-10 halftime lead.
The only thing that could stop the Knights
was a 30-minute lightning delay that suspended play with 10
minutes remaining in the third quarter.
Evans picked up where it left off after
the delay. Once the game restarted, it only took the Knights
five plays to find the end zone in the form of a Taylor Hooven
2-yard dive.
They padded the lead with a 28-yard
scoring strike from Millward to Henderson to end the third
quarter.
The Knights' defense also picked it up a
notch in the second half with five tackles for a loss, including
four sacks.
Lakeside quarterback Chad Chandler was
pressured heavily most of the night, and the Evans secondary
picked off two passes.
"The defensive front helped out
there," Jackson said. "They were putting the pressure
on that quarterback, and we tried to put as much heat on him as
we could."
Reach Billy Byler at (706) 863-6165 or billy.byler@augustachronicle.com.
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