The No. 11 seed Lakeside Warriors’ history-making season came to an end Friday night with a 49-18 loss to No. 6 Sterlington Friday night in the second round of the non-select Division III playoffs at Sterlington.
But that’s not how this season will be remembered. The 2024 Warriors will be remembered as the first team in school history to start the season 6-0 and the first to win nine games.
Lakeside, which finished 9-3 after going 3-7 in 2023, also won a playoff game for only the second time in school history and the first time at home.
Sterlington (8-4) will visit No. 3 Oak Grove in the quarterfinals.
Lakeside hung with the District 1-3A champion Panthers early, trailing just 6-0 after the first quarter. Sterlington began to pull away late in the second and led 21-0 at the half. When the Panthers’ Sam Frazier Jr. returned the second half kickoff for a touchdown, the outcome was all but decided.
But the Warriors battled to the end with senior Eli Santelices scoring with 5 seconds left in the game.
Lakeside dominated time of possession but the Warriors had four turnovers, including three interceptions.
Sterlington had 318 yards rushing on just 32 attempts, an average of 9.9 per attempt, per stats kept for the KASO/KBEF radio/web broadcast. The Panthers attempted only one pass and didn’t complete it.
Lakeside had 266 yards rushing on 47 attempts. The Warriors’ only complete pass went to senior Taron Riley for a 60-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
Junior quarterback Brock Case rushed for 112 yards on eight carries. He had a 73-yard run.
Junior Kentravion Miller gained 103 yards on 23 carries and scored on a 1-yard run.
TJ Burch led Sterlington with 109 yards rushing on eight carries and two touchdowns. Gaven Evans had 106 yards on nine carries and two touchdowns.
The game was the final one for Lakeside seniors Santelices, Riley, Jamarion Evans, Jacobe Rankin, James Maxie, Trevor Tharpe, Willie Jenkins, Shavell Randle and Freddy Danzy, Eli Campbell.