Journal Staff Report

Lakeside Warriors dropped their week two matchup in a close one, falling to the LaSalle Tigers, 32-29.
The Warriors came out sluggish to start and never fully recovered. After LaSalle drove and scored on the game’s opening possession, the ensuing kickoff fell into no-man’s land and was recovered by the Tigers. A few plays later, the scoreboard showed 12-0 Tigers.

Lakeside cut into the lead with a Brock Case touchdown run and took the lead back at 14-12 on their following possession with a Kentravion Miller touchdown on the ground, but LaSalle refused to go away in front of their home fans. The Warriors had just extended their lead to 21-12 on a tremendous pick-six returned 75 yards by freshman Jayden Maxie and all momentum seemed to favor Lakeside. Then, a string of plays went the Tigers’ way.

Lakeside got a defensive stop, forcing a punt that would be returned for a touchdown, however the officials penalized the Warriors for a block in the back. On the very next snap, the Warriors coughed the ball up to LaSalle via fumble, setting the Tigers up with a short field and less than a minute to work with. With nine seconds left in the half, the Warriors were hit with a defensive pass interference call setting LaSalle up at the Warrior 15-yard line. Then, on the final play of the half, the Tigers scored on an acrobatic catch in the back corner of the end zone and cashed in the two-point conversion to make the halftime score 21-20 Lakeside.

The sequence would prove costly, as the teams went toe-to-toe for much of the second half. Trailing 32-29, the Warriors defense went to work with a little over six minutes on the clock and needing a stop to have a chance for some last minute heroics. Lakeside was able to bring LaSalle to a fourth down with less than 90 seconds remaining, but the Tigers refused to be denied, converting the first down to ice the game.

The Warriors (1-1) must recover quickly as they hit the road once again this week for matchup with the Plain Dealing Panthers (0-1).