In the end, this game turned out to be a contest between Lakewood’s aerial game against Lakeside’s ground attack.

The Lakeside Lions defeated the Lakewood Cougars 42-32, but seemed to have a hard time despite the score.

Through three quarters Lakewood was only down two points, and had multiple opportunities to take the lead. The fourth quarter proved to be critical, as the Lions always seemed to be one step ahead of Cougars, and eventually made the score a two-possession game and out of reach.

Both offenses were clicking, as Lakeside had 480 yards to Lakewood’s 372. What must have been the difference maker was the time of possession. Where Lakewood had 15:06 minutes of offense, Lakeside doubled that with 32:54 minutes.

The Cougars consistently showed off their passing game with 257 total passing yards to the Lion’s 23 yards, as Cougar sophomore QB Justin Lane completed 16 of 32 passes for 257 yards and four touchdowns. His main target was senior Jordan Stauffer who had eight receptions for 144 yards and three touchdowns.

On the other side of the ball, Lakeside favored running their players through the middle of the line and was highly successful with 457 yards compared to Lakewood’s 115 total rushing yards. Lakeside Senior Michael Schwartz ran for 299 yards on 30 carries. On defense, the Lions seemed to make the big plays happen by shutting down field goal attempts, and creating turnovers.

After the game, Lakewood Head Coach Dan Teeter explained, “Our defense is just inexperienced. Our secondary is playing great but our front seven hasn’t played much varsity football. Every game they play they will get better.”

Overall though, Coach Teeter stated, “I was really pleased with the effort; the kids fought the whole way. There’s work to do and we’re going to see that with film on Monday. I’m proud of the kids, but they got some work to do.”

Next week the Cougars play at Lynden Christian for a chance to even up their season record at one apiece.

Lakewood Cougars

6 6 6 12 32

Lakeside Lions

6 8 6 22 42