Lakeside, its offense rarely slowed, had plenty of heroes on defense Friday night and pounded visiting De Queen 48-14 at Austin Field.
The Rams (4-4, 4-1 5A-South) scored 35 points off turnovers in the first half, returning two of De Queen's six turnovers for scores.
"I think our kids played very hard (and) understood what we were trying to do defensively and they made those plays," said Lakeside coach Jared McBride. "Earlier in the year, we were kind of watching some of that happen and we were making things happen tonight. That's good for our kids. They picked up steam, we got a couple of turnovers and just kept going."
Lakeside defensive back Brandon Chambers intercepted Drew Dykes' first pass on the second play from scrimmage, the first of four first-half picks off the Leopard quarterback.
Quarterback Fisher Alexander connected with Caleb Dean on the next play for 29 yards and a touchdown, Phillip Gayle kicking it to 7-0 just 56 seconds into the game.
Kelen Bland intercepted a third-down pass on the next possession and returned it 52 yards for a touchdown. It was 14-8 after Dykes passed 34 yards to Logan Hall for a touchdown and Hunter Earney ran for two points.
Dupree Swanson then got rolling and scored three first-half touchdowns for Lakeside. He went over from the two for a 20-8 lead after Alexander passed 43 yards to Bland, whose second interception led to Swanson's nine-yard scoring run. Dean collected the fourth interception, Swanson scoring from 10 yards out on a 28-yard drive.
Despite an interception late in the half, Alexander started seven of 10 for 170 yards, Dean with five receptions for 116 yards.
"For us, running the football well during the year helps us throw the football," McBride said. "I think we are trying to set our pass game up off of the run and it has worked pretty well the last few weeks.
"Caleb was running really good routes, they were protecting very well and Fisher was delivering good footballs. We've got to keep growing in the passing game and getting better, but we picked up some good chunk yardage tonight."
Ben Turner's fumble recovery in the end zone punctuated a 41-8 first half that Lakeside outgained De Queen 243-89.
Swanson scored from five yards out in the second half after Michael James' 40-yard burst put the Rams within range. Swanson had 17 carries for 99 yards and four touchdowns, James finishing with two carries for 60 yards.
"The one thing they were set to do was stop the thing we had done so well -- that's running the outside run with (Swanson)," McBride said. "We had to do a lot of counter runs and a lot of weakside runs. We did a good job of picking those things up.
"That was second and third down on our run list, but I was glad our kids were able to execute. He had a great, productive night. Mike James did also."
The clock ran for the rest of the second half. The Leopards offense moved the ball well in limited time.
Dykes went 8-for-13 in the second half for 86 yards in the second half to finish 10-for-21 with 125 yards.
De Queen finished with 213 total yards. Lakeside gained 335.
Sophomore quarterback Taylor Gillham sat out against De Queen after suffering a concussion late in the previous week's game against Hope. McBride said he did not clear protocol in time to play Friday but will likely play junior varsity on Monday.
Lakeside goes on the road Friday night against Watson Chapel (5-3, 4-1), upset 21-14 by Magnolia (3-5, 2-3) last week.
"There's a lot to play for," McBride said. "We've played them in good games over the last few years and have been very competitive. It seems like you've always got to beat them to be at the top and it will be the same next week regardless of the outcome this week."
Sports on 10/23/2016