A slow start and tough second half by Lakeland High School ended in a 52-12 football loss for the Cavs on Friday.

Lakeland’s first road game — against Indian River High School— left the Cavaliers at 1-1 for the season.

Because of a slow first quarter start, things started to get out of hand quickly. Indian River put three scores on the board, giving them a 19-0 lead after the first quarter. Lakeland’s first couple of series left the team with negative yardage.

To keep up with a team like Indian River, it was evident Lakeland needed to make every drive count. In the second quarter, the Cavs started to do that.

“We lost some momentum at the beginning of the game,” coach Kevin Knight said. “We started to gain some of it back in the second quarter, going down by seven at the half.”

A four-yard pass by Tyquan Holloman to Deondre Little cut the Indian River lead to 19-6. On the Cavs’ following possession, running back Tyriq Rawlings broke off a 50-yard run for a touchdown that cut the lead to seven. Rawlings finished with more than 100 yards rushing.

In the third quarter, Lakeland let the game slip away from them, and Indian River went on to finish the game 51-12.

“In the second half, we just fell apart,” Knight said. “We weren’t doing our jobs, and we were missing assignments. All across the board, we didn’t get it done out there.

Former Lakeland players Ricardo Ray and Nashun Overton hurt the Cavs Friday night. Ray had three touchdowns against his former team, and Overton had a couple of touchdowns and added more than 100 yards rushing.

Lakeland will have another tough task next Friday as they host Nansemond River High School in what will be a high-intensity rivalry game, as it was last year.

“We are going to come in and watch the film and learn from it,” Knight said. “This game hurt. The record says one win and one loss. But it is a rivalry game next week, and it doesn’t get more exciting than that.”