By Craig Brown
The Lake View High School Wild Gators hosted the Bears of Carvers Bay High School Friday night on Jewell McLaurin Field in a game that started fast for the Wild Gators and finished in nail biting excitement with the Lake View defense holding fast to secure a 20-16 win.
Carvers Bay has long been known as one of the bad boys of division 1A football often challenging as many as three division 3A schools in regular season play, but Lake View might just be the all-time leader with division 1A records with nine state championships with losing seasons as scarce as hen’s teeth. The fact that Lake View has lost several players this season to injuries and still remains the team to beat in their region says a lot for
Coach Daryl King and his coaching staff as well as the efforts of the players that have had to step up and fill the voids with many players playing both sides of the ball. Lake View has really given their fans their money’s worth the past two games with both Latta and Carvers Bay games going down to the wire.
Early on the game had the makings of a Lake View blow-out with Tyshawn McDaniel taking the hand-off from quarterback Duane Nichols and racing 58 yards for a Wild Gator touchdown on the first offensive play of the game.
Delvon Bethea ran in the two point conversion to put Lake View up 8-0 with 11:41 left in the first quarter. On the Wild Gators second possession of the first quarter, Nichols finished the drive with a 24-yard touchdown pass to Bethea.
The conversion failed holding Lake View’s lead to 14-0 with 7:11 left in the first quarter.
On the Wild Gators final possession of the first quarter, Nichols again finished the drive with a touchdown pass, this time a 21-yard strike to Tyshawn McDaniel. The conversion failed with the quarter ending with Lake View up 20-0. The second quarter was a defensive battle early on until the Wild Gators put together a late drive.
The Gators got to the Bears 10-yard line and went for the lateral pass.
The ball slipped through the Wild Gator’s receiver’s hands and what happen next left a lot of people asking questions. Some fans state they heard a whistle blow the play dead and others say the players on both sides reacted to the announcer calling an incomplete pass.
Whatever the reason only Marquise Goss of the Bears seemed to react. Goss picked up the ball that was behind the line of scrimmage and he and one lone referee ran 85 yards down field resulting in a Bears touchdown.
C.J. Miller ran in the conversion to cut the Wild Gator lead to 20-8 with 2:52 left in the first half of play. Apparently everybody on the playing field was certain the play was dead but Goss and one referee. New life was breathed into the Bears and the game would turn into a slug-out.
The first half would end with Lake View holding the 20-8 lead.
The third quarter produced some hard hitting action that near the end had the Bears mounting a long drive that ended with John Frasier crossing the goal line from two yards out. C.J. Miller ran in the two point conversion cutting Lake View’s lead to 20-16 with 3:32 left in the third quarter. The third quarter would end with this score.
The Wild Gators dodged a bullet in the fourth quarter when a 67 yard Bears touchdown run was called back on a penalty at the 9:38 minute mark.
The game ended in a defensive struggle with the Wild Gators holding on to secure the 20-16 hard fought victory. After the game Coach Daryl King stated how proud he was of his team’s efforts this season and the great job his coaching staff was doing. Coach King added that Carvers Bay had a lot of talent on their team and were well coached. It was a great win for our team, stated King. Coach King expects another good game this week as they travel to Hemmingway for a region match.
On offense for the Wild Gators, Tyshawn McDaniel had 121 yards rushing on 16 carries with a touchdown and caught a 21-yard touchdown pass. Duane Nichols was 5 of 10 passing for 80 yards and two touchdowns and had 36 yards rushing on six carries, Delvon Bethea caught two passes for 36 yards with a touchdown and had 35 yards rushing on 12 carries, Darius Ford caught two passes for 23 yards and Randall Washington picked up 9 yards on 5 carries.
On defense for the Wild Gators, Xavier Johnson had seven tackles, two assists and an interception, Connor Anderson, Shawn Williams and Datron Jones had five tackles, two assists each, Stone Spivey had four tackles, five assists, Delvon Bethea had three tackles, William Hayes had two tackles, three assists, Benji Barfield, Will Arnette and Darius Ford had two tackles, two assists each, Tyler Davis added a tackle with three assists, Keiondre Wheeler, Hunter Jackson, Deonte Roberts and Marshal Powell added a tackle with an assist each and Brandon Acevedo added two tackle assists.
Game time for the Hemingway game is set for 7:30. It should be a good one and well worth the drive. During the half time activities the fans at Lake View were treated to special performances by junior cheerleaders that danced and cheered and released pink balloons in support of cancer research and patients.
School Principal, Edison Arnette stated that try to teach students to think of others and not just themselves. Senior night was also observed honoring parents and senior members of the football team, Band and cheerleading programs.
