Texarkana has big 2nd half, downs LS

In a penalty-heavy matchup, Lakeside was unable to capitalize on a 14-7 halftime lead as Texarkana came back to take a 21-14 victory Friday night at Chick Austin Field.

“We played hard,” Rams head coach Jared McBride said. “They are a good team. We turned the ball over at the end going in to tie the game. Our defense is playing well. We had a couple turnovers to start the second half. We will need to clean that up.”

Lakeside (3-3, 1-1 5A-South) maintained possession coming back from intermission as the Razorbacks (4-0, 2-0) stepped up their game with senior Graydon Martin picking off a pass at Lakeside’s 37-yard line from senior quarterback Will Ross intended for classmate Logan White. The visitors profited off of the defensive play, refusing to let a penalty hold them back, with senior Torie Blair hauling it in from the 1 with 8:05 on the clock. Junior Christian Stewart’s point-after attempt was good to tie up the contest as the momentum grew for the Razorbacks.

The host’s offense continued to struggle as Texarkana’s defense refused to slow down. Another interception, this time by senior Naijah Taylor at the Rams 24, set up senior Braylon Bishop for a 19-yard dash. A personal foul call against the Rams set the ball on the 1, but a false start against the Razorbacks set them back to the 6, leading head coach Barry Norton quickly called a timeout.

Bishop squeezed his way into the end zone with 4:57 left in the third as Stewart’s kick set the final. Lakeside came close to putting up one more score and sending the game into a possible overtime, but the visitors defense held on to keep them out of the end zone.

Norton mentioned that he thought both sides played well, but certain mistakes kept the Razorbacks from being at their best.

“I thought there were some good things and some bad things — the inconsistencies offensively caused by Lakeside playing good defense and sometimes us playing bad offense,” he said. “I thought defensively we did a good job with the exeception of one drive and one ball that was thrown over our head. Our guys did a good job. There were a couple mistakes in the catching game that I didn’t like.

“I didn’t think we played a really good game, but a very competitive game. We had more mistakes than we had good things, probably. I don’t think it was anywhere near our best game, but we played a competitive game and situational football when we needed to (and) found a way to win. Lakeside did a good job. Their kids played really, really well. Coach McBride does a great job with them, and he had them well prepared. We went in knowing it was going to be a tough four-quarter game, and it’s exactly what we had.”

Lakeside ate up a huge chunk of the clock in the opening quarter, keeping Texarkana’s possession to a minimum. Junior Chance Cross picked off a pass from Bishop, setting up Ross to connect with junior Brock Garner on a 9-yard aerial touchdown to cap a 17-play, 97-yard drive with 50.2 seconds remaining. Junior Andrew Degrasse’s kick was good for a 7-0 lead.

Moving into the second, Bishop and Blair combined to inch their way closer to the end zone as Bishop pushed his way past Lakeside defenders from inside the 1-yard line with 8:49 until halftime. Stewart’s first PAT of the night was good to knot the scoreboard, but the Rams quickly changed that 15 seconds later as senior Isaac Echols caught a kickoff return, zipping to the Razorbacks 30-yard line and opening up the opportunity for White to reel in a 30-yard score from Ross. The energy in the stands grew as another successful kick from Degrasse gave Lakeside a 7-point edge.

“They are who they are,” Norton said of Lakeside. “You know who they are, but they do it pretty well. They’ve got a football team. They’ve got a really good football team. Their kids are physical. They’re well-coached. They’re well-disciplined. They do some really nice things, but I thought it was a really good ball game. They competed, and it came down to the end. We made a couple more plays than they did.”

Lakeside travels to Hope (1-4, 1-1) next Friday. Texarkana hosts Hot Springs (3-2, 2-0) on Oct. 23 for its next game.