LAKEWOOD — The Cougars showed off their firepower during the football season opener.
Scoring seven touchdowns in the 47-34 non-conference victory against Prairie Sept. 3, Lakewood coach Dan Teeter got what he hoped for: variety.
“We really spread it out and we got a nice mix of running and throwing plays,” Teeter said. “It was encouraging to see us perform well both the running and throwing.”
A more potent running game has been something Teeter had been excited to add to Lakewood’s arsenal this season and it looks like that goal has been realized as the Cougars featured a trio of backs. Compiling 238 yards on the ground, the Cougars were led by Brandon Stott who broke out for 148 yards on just five carries and also caught three balls for 66 yards and scoring two touchdowns.
“Brandon made big plays and we just gave him the ball and he made the other team try to stop him,” said Teeter.
Lakewood got its first two scores by way of its Justin Lane-Justin Peterson connection. The two hooked up for a third TD in the third quarter. The scoring catches accounted for half of Peterson’s six receptions for 77 yards. Lane, however, didn’t play favorites, spreading the ball around to five receivers and completing 14 of 21 pass attempts for 234 yards and five touchdowns.
While the offense performed as well as could be expected, Teeter had mixed reviews of the defense.
“If you look at the score, they got 34 points and that would be worrisome, but they came out with a different scheme than we expected,” Teeter said.
Teeter said he was expecting a spread offense from Prairie, but ran into a triple option that caught his defenders scratching their heads. After halftime, however, that all changed as the Cougars, who allowed 174 yards on the ground in the first half, shut Prairie down to just two yards rushing in the second half.
“The option is just match-up football and once we went over it in the locker room, the guys pitched a shutout in the second half,” Teeter said.
Trailing 29-27 at halftime, Prairie did score once in third quarter, but that was on a kick return.
Earning defensive player of the game honors was defensive end Conner O’Kinsella, who recorded four solo tackles and assisted five more — 1.5 of which were for a loss.
Lakewood plays at Lynden Christian at 7 p.m. Sept. 10.
