Lamar hands Latta first loss of season with 14-7 victory

          Lamar – All the pertinent numbers tell you one thing. Offensive plays; Latta High School 65, Lamar 38 in their high school football game on Friday. First downs; Latta 15, Lamar 4. Total yards of offense; Latta 294, Lamar 105. Latta reached Silver Foxes territory on nine of its 10 possessions. Lamar was in Vikings territory on four out of 10 possessions.

         The final score tells you something different though. Lamar took advantage of its one explosive offense play to set up a short touchdown run in the first half and used a Latta special teams mistake to set up a score in the second half for a 14-7 victory at Donald R. Poole Stadium.

         The loss was the first of the season in seven games for Latta, which came into the game ranked third in the High School Sports Report Sweet 16 Class A poll. Lamar, which was ranked 12^th, improved to 4-3 in winning the Region 6 opener for both teams.

         The Silver Foxes were losing the field position battle most of the night but still managed to keep a team was averaging just under 50 points a contest out of the end zone until just over three minutes remained in the game.

         First-year Lamar head coach Stephen Burris credited defensive coordinator Jason Myers and his staff for the game plan.

         “They did a great job of preparing the defense for this game,” Burris said. “I felt like they were very prepared and knew what was going on, and the kids showed that. They did a great job in practice all week, and that's where it starts. 

         At the end of the day, the kids made the plays. We’ve got a lot of kids we trust to go out there and make plays and they definitely kept us in it "

         The Silver Foxes came up with nine tackles for loss, and with Latta being penalized 11 times for 80 yards, it found itself playing behind the chains for a good part of the night. Two turnovers didn’t help matters either.

         “We made too many mistakes tonight that caught up to us,” said Vikings head coach Brandon Iseman. “We had been careless with the football in some of our games, and we were able to get away with it. We weren’t able to get away with it tonight.”

         Latta received the opening kickoff and went three downs and out, having to punt. It was the only possession in which the Vikings didn’t get into Lamar territory.

         The next time Latta got the ball, it put together an 11-play possession. The Vikings were facing third down and five yards to go at the Foxes 20-yard line when quarterback Labron Cobb and star running back Jammarion Jones fumbled an exchange Lamar recovered at the 25.

         On Latta’s third possession, it was facing fourth and eight at the Silver Foxes 45. It lined up in punt formation, but Cobb, who is the regular punter, passed the ball, but it was incomplete.

         “We’re always going to be aggressive,” Iseman said of the decision to fake a punt at that point. “It just didn’t work out.”

         On Lamar’s first play, quarterback Zori Pierce threw a short pass to wide receiver Tavis Dolford, who broke a tackle and raced down the sideline before being dragged down at the Latta 2. Pierce scored on the next play and then passed to Dolford for the 2-point conversion to make it 8-0 with 10:29 left in the second quarter.

         “We've got to be able to make play8s on the outside,” Burris said when asked about Lamar’s offensive difficulties. “They dared us tonight by putting a lot of people in the box and taking away the run. We've got to clean up some stuff and execute better in the running game.

         “We were able to make the plays when they were presented to us, enough to get the win. I'd rather learn my lessons tonight with a win than take a loss in the region.”

         Latta came back with a 13-play drive that started at its 13 and ended at the Lamar 13 by turning the ball over on downs. The Vikings had four plays for losses and three penalties for 20 yards.

         The Silver Foxes led 8-0 at halftime and received the second-half kickoff. Latta stole the possession though as it recovered an onside kick at midfield. The Vikings could only manage one first down and had to punt.

         A 43-yard pass from Cobb to wide receiver Purnell Legette early in the fourth quarter had Latta at the Lamar 13. The Vikings turned the ball over on downs, throwing an incompletion on fourth and six at the 9.

         Lamar’s Juju Morris was punting for the sixth of seven times when the Foxes caught a break. The Vikings muffed the punt and Lamar’s Alvion Ward recovered at the Latta 25.

         Two plays later,  Dolford came in motion in the backfield and Pierce hit him with a pass. Dolford slipped a tackle and broke back to the middle for a 23-yard touchdown. The 2-point conversion was no good, leaving the score at 14-0 with 4:47 remaining in the game.

         The Vikings got a new life when Kartrell Townsend returned the kickoff 62 yards to the Lamar 30. Completions of 12 and 16 yards from Cobb to Legette set up a 1-yard scoring run by Cobb. Placekicker Conley Dailey added the extra point to make it 14-7 with 3:21 to go.

         The Vikings forced Lamar to punt after three plays, and since they had three timeouts to stop the clock, they got the ball back with 2:50 left. However, they were pinned deep as Morris got off a 46-yard punt with the ball rolling dead at the 3.

         It only took Latta three plays to get in Silver Foxes territory though. After a 1-yard run on first down, Cobb connected with Purnell for 16 yards and Townend for 20 yards. A personal foul against Lamar on the play set the Vikings up at the Lamar 45 with just under two minutes left.

         Latta was unable to get it any closer though as Lamar held on for the win.

         Cobb completed 14 of 28 passes for 208 yards with several of the incompletions being drops.

         “Labron had a great game,” Iseman said. “He’s a warrior. He did all of that and played every snap on defense.”

         Townsend had six catches for 92 yards, while Legette had seven for 109.

         Jones, who was averaging over 200 yards rushing per game entering the contest, ran for 88 yards on 18 carries. However, he was helped off the field after being injured late in the game.

         Latta will try to get its first region win playing host to Hannah-Pamplico next week. The Silver Foxes will go on the road against Green Sea Floyds.

         “We're going to hang our hat on defense here, and that's the way Lamar has been for the last 25 years,” said Burris, whose team has allowed only 24 first-half points this season. “We're happy for them, we're proud of them, and we've got to keep it rolling.”