A two-time defending conference champion but 0-3 for the second-straight year, Lakeside needs another about-face in the 5A-South opener tonight against Camden Fairview at Austin Field.
A 56-52 road win over Fairview last year jump-started Lakeside to a 6-5 finish and a share, with White Hall, of the conference title.
Offense wasn't the problem for the Rams last week. Lakeside, in its home opener, simply couldn't stop Malvern quarterback Demias Jimerson (529 yards total offense) and lost 67-58 to the Leopards.
Even so, Dupree Swanson totaled more than 320 yards offensively for Lakeside, also getting big games from quarterback Taylor Gilham (143 yards passing) and Michael James (123 yards rushing).
"They're guys we lean on," said coach Jared McBride. "Mike James and Dupree are two running backs that had really good games last week. With that comes out of good play out of our offensive line and our other receivers. It takes all 11 to make sure that we get a good play. We did well offensively. We still have got room to improve. Overall, offensively, we did OK."
Fairview, led by junior quarterback Keith Johnson, is "very multiple" offensively, said McBride. "They'll be in some traditional tight-end sets (and) ... some four-wide receiver sets," he said.
McBride calls Johnson "a good football player. He has a good arm. He's accurate enough, and he seems to be a good leader for them."
Senior receiver Dalvonte Lewis "hurt us last year on some runs," McBride said. "We'll definitely have to key in on him pretty good. We've got to be able to play good solid defense and tackle."
Lakeside senior Alex Stewart posted 19 tackles against Malvern.
"He led us on the defensive side for sure," McBride said. "He's a good football player. He's a tough kid and is kind of the leader on that side of the ball. We've got to get a little more help around him, but he had a really good night."
Brandon Chambers and David Regenhardt also had strong games defensively, the coach said.
"You'd like to be led by guys in tackles that are a little closer to the ball, not your safeties and your corners, but you've got to give credit to those guys. They played hard and did a good job. We've got to have a few more guys step up and get a little more solid on our special teams."
After facing Joe T. Robinson, Sylvan Hills and Malvern, McBride is willing to look ahead, not behind -- starting with Fairview.
"We're getting better each week," he said. "We played against a good football team, and we had a little trouble getting a good athlete on the ground. For us, we're getting better and trying to get ready for Week 1 of conference, which is Friday night."
Sports on 09/22/2017