The Lakeside Panthers were led by three-way star Ty Jones en route to their 21-0 win over cross-town and Region 1-AAAAA rival Evans.
Heading into Friday night’s matchup between undefeated Columbia County foes, Jones did not doubt that his Lakeside squad would come out on top.
“We all know we were the better team coming into this game,” Jones said after Friday’s win. “We just want to come out here and show everyone that we should be number one.”
Jones totaled 185 yards through the air, which is more than he had in both games leading up to Friday night.
Those 185 yards came off only eight completions, with one being an 87-yard screen pass touchdown to Mi’Keal Grissom to make the score 14-0 in the second quarter..
“We saw them blitz everyone, so I gave it to Keal’ on the outside,” Jones said about the touchdown pass. “It was one-on-one with him, and a safety and we know how that goes.”
Grissom finished the game with 112 yards off four receptions and one touchdown.
Lakeside’s defensive domination
The Panthers held a powerful Knights offense that scored no less than 35 points in their first two games scoreless and forced them to punt more in this game than they have all season. The final Evans punt of the night resulted in a 79-yard punt return touchdown by none other than Jones, to provide the final margin.
“I saw a lot of green to the left side,” said Jones. “My blockers did a great job and left me one-on-one with a punter, and that’s disrespectful.”
The Panthers were also able to force three failed fourth-down attempts, with one being a blocked 47-yard field goal attempt to hold on to the shutout.
The Panthers held the Knights’ offense to less than 100 total yards, and Lakeside coach Steve Hibbitts credited the defensive success to the guys up on the line of scrimmage.
“Those guys up front were winning that battle on our defensive side,” said Hibbitts. “Evans can pound the ball with their big guys up front, so it was fun to see our guys put up that fight.”
Sights set on December
Hibbitts is still looking toward his main goal of extending the season as long as possible.
“We want to be playing in December, and this game was another step towards that,” said Hibbitts. “It was a big hurdle to come over and play in front of an environment like this.”
More than just a convincing win over a rival opponent, it gave Lakeside a chance to go 1-0 in region play ahead of next Friday’s region matchup with Effingham County (0-2).
Ultimately, Jones believes that the win on Evans’ home turf proved a point.
“Evans saying, it is the best team in the CSRA, and not even scoring a point, I think that shows a lot about the team that we are,” Jones said.
