Lahser Football Comes Back For 22-14 Win Over Ferndale

FERNDALE – The Lahser High School varsity football team didn’t have much luck on offense through three quarters on Friday night, so its defense had to step up.

By forcing three fumbles before the fourth quarter, the unit helped the Knights spoil Ferndale’s home opener with a 22-14 win.

“You can’t win if you turn the ball over three times,” Ferndale head coach Ryan Dunlap said. “It makes it so hard.”

The Eagles maintained a 7-6 halftime lead that could’ve easily been 14-3 if not for the turnovers.

Ferndale scored on its second drive of the game on an 11-yard run by running back Earl Tillford. But a fumble by quarterback Eric Ellis in the second quarter wiped away any early momentum.

On the ensuing possession, Ferndale’s defense pumped up the home crowd with two sacks of Lahser quarterback Spencer McCourt. That gave the offense great field possession to start the next drive at the Knights 41-yard line.

Ferndale worked the ball into the red zone where Ellis was sacked at the 12-yard line and lost the ball.

The Knights (2-0; 2-0 OAA Blue) didn't capitalize, but the Eagles wouldn’t be so lucky after their second turnover.

Tyler Roth put Lahser on the board with a 38-yard field goal with only 1:50 left in the half. Ferndale lost the ball on its first play of the next possession when Desmond Paige fumbled on a reverse, putting the  Knights within field goal range at the 26-yard line.

“The first two (fumbles) were just unacceptable,” Dunlap said. “Quarterback got sacked and coughed the ball up, that should never happen. We had a little reverse pass and we coughed the ball up.”

Roth cut the Eagles' lead down to 7-6 with a 24-yard field goal at the end of the first half.

Ferndale opened the third quarter by forcing Lahser running back Dajuan Burnley to fumble at the 18-yard line. But the Eagles couldn’t capitalize on the turnover in the red zone. After a quick three-and-out, a 38-yard field goal attempt was blocked.

“That was a such substitution mistake,” Dunlap said. “Our right guard decided not to go in the game (on the play)”

From there, the Knights tried to play keep away. A 15-play, seven-minute drive ate up most of the clock in the third quarter. Lahser had red zone issues of its own when the drive stalled at the 5-yard line with 1:44 left to go in the third.

Lahser running back Chris McDonald couldn’t convert a fourth-and-one and the lengthy drive ended with no points.

Any hope of taking a lead into the fourth quarter were dashed when Earl Tillford was hit in the backfield on the first play of the Eagles drive. Ferndale recovered the ball in the end zone and it was ruled a safety to give the Knights an 8-7 lead.

“The defense has to put out the fire,” Lahser head coach Dan Loria said. “When something happens you got to get on the field and you got to put out the fire, change the momentum back. A good defense makes a good offense, that’s always been a focal point here at Lahser.”

The Knights offense scored twice in the fourth quarter to put the game away. Burnley ran the ball seven times in the quarter for 60 yards. He scored both of Lahser’s touchdowns and finished the game with 26 carries and 161 yards.

“No. 27 (Burnley) wore us down a little bit at the end,” Dunlap said. “Our numbers hurt us there.”

Loria was really happy with the way his team continually fought back.

“I think the biggest part of this football team is dealing with adversity,” he said. “How we react to adversity is how far this team can go, how many games this team can win.”

Lahser will now gear up for a big OAA Blue game with Seaholm on Friday (7 p.m.). It will be the Maples home opener and both teams are undefeated. Loria said it won’t take much to get the teams fired up for next week’s game.

“It’s a great matchup for both of us,” Loria said. “We’ll be able to see where we are at when we walk off their field.”