Warriors pitch shutout in rain-shortened scrimmage
The LFO Warriors may not have played perfect football on Friday night, but they played well enough to get the job done.
Lightning and an approaching storm put an end to the Warriors’ contest at LaFayette at halftime, but the Red-and-White would put up two first-half touchdowns to claim a 14-0 victory in the abbreviated scrimmage.
“We would have liked to played the second half so we could have gotten our young guys in there, but as a whole, I was very proud of our guys,” LFO head coach Bo Campbell. “They’ve worked really hard over the summer and they deserved it.”
After being forced to punt on its opening possession, the Warriors defense would quickly get the ball back for the offense. Drew Woodard made a hit to force a fumble and Chase Pewitt recovered to set up shop for LFO at the LaFayette 17-yard line.
They would move the ball down to the 1 on a Jacob Flanagan run, but a fumble and a penalty would cost the Warriors eight yards. Quarterback Zach Vaughn would fumble the ensuing snap, but scooped up the loose pigskin, avoided a tackle and turned the broken play into six points on a nine-yard run.
Bailey Goins would connect on the first of two extra points as LFO led 7-0 just past the midway point of the first quarter.
The two defenses would control much of the rest of the action. Braxton Jones recovered another LaFayette fumble and the Warriors would halt the Ramblers on fourth down at the LFO 42. Meanwhile, LaFayette would force a threeand-out and Jonathan Keown came up with a sack to help thwart a potential LFO drive.
Midway through the second quarter, the Ramblers were looking to force and three-and-out as the Warriors faced a third down-and-10 from their own 34. But Vaughn rolled right on a playaction pass and hit Ruddy Ware in stride down the sideline as he raced to the end zone to complete the 66-yard scoring strike with 4:17 left in the half.
LaFayette would have one final drive as they looked to answer before the end of the half, but Ware would pick off Rambler quarterback Ty Fisher at the LFO 20 to end the threat.
With lightning getting closer to Jack King Stadium during halftime and threat of bad weather getting more severe, game officials chose to call off the second half.
Campbell said he was excited to see his team have a positive result.
“They’ve had great commitment to the weight room and they’re getting faster and quicker,” he added. “We’re very proud of them and it feels good to come out of here with some momentum going into the season.”
Meanwhile, LaFayette head coach Chad Fisher said his staff “got out of the scrimmage what they needed to see.”
“It was Day 2 or 3 in pads and I think we made every mistake we thought we’d make,” he explained. “But I thought we played well defensively, save for a busted coverage. We were able to rotate guys in spots and saw different personnels.
“It’s an early season scrimmage for a reason. We saw plenty of stuff to correct, which will give us plenty to do over the next two weeks. Our kids have had a great summer and now it’s time to focus and get ready for the first game.”
LFO will open at home against Catoosa County rival Heritage on Aug. 18, while LaFayette will play at home that same night against Armuchee.