Suffolk News-Herald

Too many penalties, three fumbles, and a time-consuming Great Bridge offense offset two dramatic touchdown plays by Lakeland Friday night as the Cavaliers fell to the Wildcats, 20-13 at Lakeland.

After a Lakeland fumble gave Great Bridge excellent field position five minutes into the game, the Lakeland defense responded.

A sack by Antonio Golden caused a Wilcat fumble, which was recovered by Broderick Reid, giving the Cavaliers the ball at their own 27. The Lakeland defense was headed by sacks from Reid, Rasheed Ross, and Kyle Gilberson, as well as Antwan Jacobs who collected three tackles for losses.

On the first play of the new possession, Donte Myrick dropped back to pass and launched one down the left sideline.

The pass hit Robert Faulk perfectly in stride around the Wildcat 30 and Faulk continued untouched down the sideline for the score with 6:22 left in the first quarter.

The Lakeland offense was moving again early in the second quarter, advancing from their own 31 to the Wildcat 42, when a fumble on the snap was recovered by Great Bridge.

From there, the Wildcats went on a 58-yard drive, largely aided by two Lakeland facemask penalties, and finally scored from one yard out on quarterback Donny Kirby’s first of three touchdown runs.

Tyrone Parker fielded the ensuing kickoff at the 16 near the left sideline. Cutting behind his wall, he found daylight, racing all the way to the right sideline.

Getting into Wildcat territory, Parker cut back diagonally across the entire field, eluding the kicker and then one last Wildcat defender, and finally scoring, diving in at the left pylon. The Lakeland lead was seven points again in one play.

The Wildcats controlled the ball with a long drive for the next five minutes, but the Lakeland defense held on fourth and two from the seven, with Michael Parker making a tackle at the line of scrimmage on the Wildcat rushing attempt.

So despite running just 15 offensive plays in the first half, and Great Bridge holding a 10-2 advantage in first downs, Lakeland led 13-6 at the half.

Great Bridge received the second half kickoff and proceeded to move the ball 75 yards on 11 plays, taking 6:15 off the clock, and finally scoring to tie the game at 13.

Lakeland’s offense proceeded to punt, fumble, and then punt again until midway through the fourth quarter. Another Wildcat drive was capped by a short Kirby touchdown run, and with 4:39 left in the game, Lakeland fell behind for the first time on the evening. In addition to the three touchdown runs, Kirby was also 15 of 26 passing for 167 yards.

The Cavaliers drove down to the Wildcat 39, but a holding penalty knocked them back to their own 48, and Myrick was intercepted two plays later, ending Lakeland’s threats. The Cavaliers will go for their first district win at Western Branch next Friday.