Lakeside defeated Effingham County 58-38 on Monday night in a region 1-AAAAA shootout in Evans, improving to 7-0 overall and 5-0 in the region.
The Panthers got the scoring started early with a long 96-yard touchdown drive capped off by a Jack Thexton 1-yard touchdown run.
It didn’t take long for Effingham County to tie things up at 7-7 as the Rebels completed a shovel pass from Tucker Perkins to J’mere Doe-Davis that went for a touchdown from 41 yards out.
The Rebels kept the hot hand, forcing a punt, which allowed Perkins to find his favorite target Ryan Wells for the touchdown pass that gave them a 14-7 lead in the first quarter.
The Panthers turned to their star, Ty Jones, who connected on an 11-yard scoring strike to Solomon Humphreys to tie the game at 14. This came after Jones worked his magic on a 4th-and-21 play when he found Humphreys for the first down.
The back-and-forth affair continued as Effingham’s Perkins hit Jacques King on an out route for the 14-yard touchdown.
The Panthers answered on the very next play, as BJ Grissom broke around the left side and made a house call, evening the score once again.
The Panthers then forced a Rebel punt and the long snapper snapped it over the punter’s head, resulting in the easiest two points Lakeside will probably score all season.
Following the safety, Jones struck once again, this time torching the Rebels defense on a 61-yard sprint to the end zone out.
Effingham County answered as they did all night, with a 40-yard touchdown run from Doe-Davis, cutting the lead to 30-28 just before halftime.
The shootout continued into the third quarter when the Rebels found the end zone again — and regaining a 35-30 lead — just two minutes in on another Perkins-to-King connection.
Lakeside’s Thexton immediately answered on the ensuing drive with his second 1-yard scoring plunge of the night. The Panthers picked up the crucial two-point conversion to make it a 38-35 game.
From there, the Lakeside defense bent but didn’t break, allowing only a field goal to this explosive Rebel offense the rest of the way.
Offensively, BJ Grissom emerged in the fourth quarter with touchdown runs of 8 and 20 yards, and Mi’keal Grissom provided the final margin on a scoop-and-score touchdown off a blocked punt.
Lakeside looks to continue its undefeated run in what might as well be called the de-facto region championship game this Friday, Oct. 18 at Brunswick (6-1, 5-0). The Pirates scored a 49-0 rout of Statesboro this past Friday.
