By Pat Culverhouse
Sterlington’s Panthers combined a pounding ground game with a stiff defense to end the Lakeside Warriors’ season Friday with a 49-18 second-round win in LHSAA Division III Non-Select.
Sterlington jumped out front midway through the first quarter when Hagen Herring scored on a 19-yard run, the first of three Panther scores that led to a 21-0 halftime advantage. Other scores came in the second quarter on a T.J. Burch one-yard burst and Gavin Evans’ 10-yard scamper.
Lakeside’s first score of the contest came with just over five minutes remaining in the third quarter when Aaron Riley hauled in a 60-yard scoring pass from quarterback Brock Case. That score came with the Warriors trailing 35-0 following the Panthers’ Sam Frazier 78-yard kickoff return to start the second half and a Herring 10-yard run.
Sterlington scored again in the third quarter on Evans’ 35-yard scamper, and the Warriors answered when Kentravion Miller bulled into the end zone from one yard out. The teams swapped scores in the fourth quarter with Sterlington’s Burch breaking loose for a 66-yard run to pay dirt and the Warriors’ Eli Santelices diving into the end zone from six yards out with five seconds remaining in the game.
Lakeside had more total yards in the contest, picking up 266 on the ground and 60 through the air for a combined 326 yards. Sterlington had 318 total yards, all on the ground. The Panthers attempted only one pass in the game.
Lakeside had the game’s leading rusher as Case picked up 112 yards on eight carries. Miller added 108 yards on 23 attempts. Other Warrior ballcarriers were Santelices with 21 yards on three carries, Taron Riley with 21 yards on 12 tries and James Maxie with one carry for four yards.
Sterlington was led by Burch with eight carries for 109 yards and Evans with 106 yards on nine attempts. The Panthers, a perennial powerhouse in Division III NS, moved its record to 8-4 on the year heading into the next round of play.
With the loss, Lakeside finished the season 9-3, a record-setting year for first-year coach John Ware’s Warriors. The team also had the distinction of fielding two running backs who rushed for more than 1,000 yards on the year.
• Lakeside season statistics:
Senior Taron Riley romped for 1,284 yards for the season and scored 10 touchdowns. Miller, a junior, led the team in scoring with 21 touchdowns and gained 1,175 yards during the campaign. Case rushed for 167 yards and four touchdowns, Santelices picked up 102 yards with two scores and James Maxie scored three touchdowns and picked up 99 yards.
Quarterback Case, a junior, threw for 583 yards and seven TDs on the season in the Warriors’ run-heavy offense. Riley was the top receiver with 16 catches for 141 yards and two scores, and also returned two kickoffs and one punt for touchdowns.
Senior Maxie had more yards (151) on five receptions and two scores. Santelices had 130 yards on five catches and two scores, Noah Redding caught six passes for 91 yards and Trevor Tharpe had four receptions for 62 yards.
Defensively, sophomore Caleb Barber linebacker led the team with 69 tackles and had one interception for the season. He was followed by Jamarion “CoCo” Evans with 55 tackles and Santelices with 50.
Junior tackle Bryce Parker had 46 tackles while senior Jacob Rankin had 44 tackles and led the team with nine tackles for loss. Others with more than 30 stops on the season were Shavell Randall (36), Maxie (33) and sophomore Eric Jones (32).
(Editor’s note: thanks to Mark Chreene at KASO/KBEF Radio for providing game and season statistics.)