Numerous penalties befell De Queen Friday night as Lakeside took a 42-7 homecoming win at Chick Austin Field.
Despite Lakeside senior Aaron Killian setting the tone as he recovered Panther junior Marquez Ester's fumble early in the opening quarter, De Queen (1-7, 1-4 5A-South) started off with promise as junior quarterback Isaiah Williamson found Hayden Harp on a 45-yard passing touchdown with 6:48 on the clock to give the Panthers the 7-0 lead.
Moments later, Lakeside (4-4, 3-2) answered as quarterback Taylor Gillham connected with Keelan Fleming on a 57-yard pass for a touchdown with 5:10 left.
Josh Hixson made good on the extra point attempt to tie the score, 7-7.
Gillham was 9-for-17 for 168 yards with the touchdown throw.
"I was excited about our ball game," said Lakeside head coach Jared McBride. "We prepared well this week and our kids played hard. We needed to come out, play hard and we did."
Lakeside's Reece Turner recovered a muffed punt on De Queen's 29-yard line later in the quarter.
Gillham found Richard Gaston on a 26-yard pass to put the Rams in scoring position. William Perrigo then rushed for two yards into the end zone with 1:49 left in the opening quarter to secure the 13-7 lead. Perrigo also had one reception for 11 yards, two carries and a rushing touchdown.
Lakeside capitalized early in the second quarter following an interception by junior Eayn Shelley.
With 9:59 on the clock, Isaac Echols found the end zone on a seven-yard run. He then successfully converted the 2-point play to bring the score to 21-7.
Echols had three touchdowns in the second quarter alone. With six minutes left before the half, he rushed for 13 yards into the end zone to mark the score 28-7. He erupted again on the next drive as he busted out on a 14-yard run at the 2:53 mark in the second period. Hixson secured the point-after to bring it to 35-7.
The sophomore running back finished the night off with 15 carries for 173 yards with three touchdowns in the first half.
With 35 seconds remaining in the first half, Dorecus Ferguson scored the final touchdown of the night on six-yard run. Hixson followed through on the point-after attempt to put the Rams ahead for the remainder of the game, 42-7.
Ferguson's touchdown and Hixson's extra point invoked the mercy roll throughout the second half.
"You want to try to play as many kids as you can when a ball game gets out of hand like that," McBride said. "We've got to be better with our younger guys when it gets like that. We were just excited to get everybody on the field, that's what a good solid first half will do for you."
Junior J.J. Harvell had three carries for 58 yards in the final quarter.
Lakeside continued its winning streak in the series as the Rams put away a seventh straight win against De Queen dating back to 2012.
Sawyer Lamb collected four catches for 59 yards. Gaston had three catches for 41 yards.
"We have a good week of preparation for McClellan, there's still a lot to play for playoff-wise," McBride said. "We've got to prepare well because they're a very good team."
When asked for extra thoughts on closing out conference play for the remainder of the season, McBride added, "Go Rams!"
Lakeside will travel to Little Rock McClellan (7-1, 4-1) on Friday. The Crimson Lions were ranked No. 2 in Class 5A in the most recent Arkansas Sports Media High School Football Poll despite a 21-15 loss to Texarkana (7-1, 4-1) on Oct. 12. The Razorbacks are tied for No. 3 in 5A.
Sports on 10/21/2018