Second-half woes cost Royals
ELGIN – A four-turnover, penalty-filled second half derailed what had the looks of another Larkin victory on Friday night at Memorial Field.
The Royals were outscored 20-0 in the second half and lost 27-18 to Lake Park in Upstate Eight Conference action.
Despite holding Lake Park (2-1, 1-0) to 198 total yards, the Royals' mistakes cost them dearly.
The momentum was on Larkin's side as it headed into the locker room up 18-7. The Royals (2-1, 0-1) had just scored their third touchdown of the night with 7.2 seconds left in the half, had outgained Lake Park 211-100 and saw a Lancer touchdown called back on a personal foul penalty.
As Larkin's opening drive of the third quarter progressed, things went south for the Royals.
Running back Jalen Williams was in the midst of an outstanding game before fumbling it in Lake Park territory on Larkin's opening possession of the second half. Williams finished with two touchdowns and 155 yards on 26 carries but after the fumble, only gained 13 yards on his final seven carries.
"They grabbed hold of the opportunity when we fumbled and I feel from that point on, we never took control of the game," Larkin coach Matt Gehrig said.
On its next possession, Larkin quarterback Kyle Newquist was picked off in his own territory and three plays later, a touchdown run and two-point conversion brought Lake Park to within three with 7:18 left in the third.
Back with the ball, Newquist was intercepted again, as the ball was tipped by the intended receiver into the waiting arms of Lake Park's Alex Fischer.
Larkin's steely defense limited the Lancers to three yards on its ensuing drive and a missed 32-yard field goal try preserved the lead for the time being, but the Royals offense couldn't get it going.
On a third-and-16 play from the Larkin 21, Newquist suffered another tipped-pass interception.
"They've got a lot of good football players, like I've been saying all week," Gehrig said. "Their linebacking crew is probably one of the best I've seen since I've started coaching football at Larkin. At times a couple of better decisions could have been made but they did a good job."
This time the Royals were unable to keep the Lancers off the scoreboard, as Lake Park QB Larry Nawrot hooked up with Clay Cooper for a 9-yard TD strike to put the Lancers ahead 22-18 with 1:33 left in the third.
The Royals opened the fourth with another gaffe, when the ball went through the back of the end zone on a punt attempt, giving Lake Park a safety and a 24-18 lead 49 seconds into the fourth quarter.
The Royals committed 12 penalties worth 80 yards on the evening, with 65 of those coming in the second half.
"Our team as a whole needs to get better with their work habits and consistency," Gehrig said. "It's tough to swallow simply because we didn't have a good enough week of practice."
Added lineman Cody Schue: "We just have to get more disciplined in practice. Everybody has to be there. We missed six or seven starters at practice on Monday. They have to be there."
Lake Park would tack on a field goal with 7:43 remaining in the contest to go up 27-18.
The Royals led 12-0 with 8:34 left in the first half after a 41-yard touchdown strike from Newquist to Trevor Whitehead in the first quarter and a 7-yard Williams TD run. Both extra points were blocked.
Lake Park scored its first touchdown on a blocked punt, which was recovered and taken in from seven yards by Ryan Gerts.
Newquist finished with 133 yards on 11-of-29 passing, throwing one TD and four interceptions. Whitehead grabbed three receptions for 58 yards with the score. Alex Wahl had four catches for 44 yards.
LAKE PARK 27, LARKIN 18
Lake Park 0 7 15 5 — 27
Larkin 6 12 0 0 — 18
LARKIN — Whitehead 41 pass from Newquist (Kick failed), 5:57
LARKIN — Williams 7 run (Kick failed), 8:34
LAKE PARK — Gerts 7 punt block return (Monaco kick), 5:01
LARKIN — Williams 12 run (Pass failed), :07
LAKE PARK — Cooper 11 run (Monaco run), 7:18
LAKE PARK — Cooper 9 pass from Nawrot (Monaco kick), 1:33
LAKE PARK — Safety, 11:11
LAKE PARK — FG Monaco 35, 7:43
Team statistics LP Larkin
First downs 10 12
Comp.-att-int. 5-11-0 11-29-4
Passing yards 35 133
Rushing-att-yds. 42-163 31-146
Total yards 198 279
Fumbles-lost 2-2 1-1
Penalties-yards 7-62 12-80
Individual statistics
Rushing:
LAKE PARK — Monaco 17-84, McNamara 10-58, Cooper 9-20, Herrmann 5-1, Nawrot 1-(minus)2.
LARKIN — Williams 26-155, Skonieczny 4-2, Newquist 1-(minus)11.
Passing:
LAKE PARK — Nawrot 4-7-0 35, Herrmann 1-4-0 0.
LARKIN — Newquist 11-29-4 133.
Receiving:
LAKE PARK — Collins 1-12, Cooper 1-9, Mruk 1-7, Monaco 1-7, McNamara 1-0.
LARKIN – Whitehead 3-58, Wahl 4-44, Ellis 3-30, Williams 1-1.
