Lakeside hasn’t had much trouble scoring the ball this season, but they couldn’t find a way around Mansfield’s tough defense on Friday night in a 38-12 loss.
“We didn’t finish when we got in the red zone,” Warriors head coach Jason McClendon said. “We had four drives where we got inside their 30-yard line and didn’t score.”
The Warriors went scoreless for the entire first half, the first time that has happened this season.
“It was a combination of phantom penalties,” McClendon said. “We had a touchdown called back on a holding call. We had two drives where we got inside the five-yard line and didn’t score.”
Mansfield went up 22-0 before halftime. With Lakeside’s potent offense, that hardly meant the game was over. Jordan Preuett found Travion Sanders after a quality drive for a 15-yard touchdown pass to bring the score to 22-6.
“Our defense actually did a great job of keeping us in the game,” McClendon said. “They forced a few turnovers for us, and our special teams gave us an advantage with field positioning.”
Jacquez Lott ran for a one-yard touchdown two possessions later that brought the score to 22-12 with a few minutes left in the third quarter.
Lott broke the Lakeside school record for rushing yards and touchdowns in a season. Lott finished the regular season with 1,484 yards rushing and 24 touchdowns on the ground, putting him second in 2A in yards and first in touchdowns.
Mansfield held off the Warriors for the rest of the game en route to victory.
“It was a frustrating night,” McClendon said. “The officiating affected us. When you go up against a team with that much speed and you’re not getting calls, it makes it much harder. It doesn’t effect the outcome of the game, but I think it would have changed the trajectory.”
Lakeside fell to #19 after their loss to Mansfield. With the loss, the Warriors missed out on a chance to host a home playoff game. They will travel to Lake Providence to take on General Trass, the #14 seed.
“Lakeside has never won a playoff game before,” McClendon said. “We set that goal before the season and we have a great chance to do it Friday.”