Published: October 24, 2007 12:26 pm            

Forest fends off Lake rally

LAKE — It was a “Hoosiers” moment for Lake coach Bill Ingersoll.

After scoring a touchdown with 43.3 seconds left in Friday night’s game with Forest, the Hornets needed a two-point conversion to force overtime.

Lake coach called timeout and huddled with his players. That’s when Timothy Bridges told the coach “I’ll make it.”

But Bridges was stopped just shy of the goal and visiting Forest escaped with a 28-26 victory Friday night at E.F. Hollingsworth Field.

But Ingersoll walked away with something better.

“I went in the huddle and he told me he would make it, all the kids agreed,” Lake coach Bill Ingersoll said. “You have to believe in your kids. I believe it was the right call.

“I couldn’t be any prouder of our kids and the way they fought. We were down 14-0 and 21-6 to a good football team. But we hung in there and fought our way back in the game. I thought that drive at the end of the game was gutsy.”

The loss does put the Hornets in a tough situation as far as the Class 2A playoffs are concerned. With a 2-2 record in 5-2A play, the Hornets must win one of its remaining two games against Newton and Scott Central to have a shot at the playoffs.

“The Forest game was for second place,” Ingersoll said. “Now the Newton game will basically be for third place. After that, there are a lot of scenerios in which we could make the playoffs. Right now, we’re just going to focus on Newton.”

Forest stuck early after recovering a David Murray fumble deep in Lake territory. It took only two plays for Ronnie Patrick to score from 10 yards out with 10:25 left in the first quarter for an early 7-0 lead for the Bearcats.

The Bearcats went up 14-0 with 11:54 left in the first half when Lavadius Lyles found Marshall Jones on a 3-yard pass play.

Lake then responded with with a 14-play, 74-yard drive as Jeremy Johnson scored on a 2-yard run with 4:38 left in the first half and Forest led 14-6.

Forest then moved down the field quickly as Lyles hit Zackary Reed on an 11-yard touchdown pass with 1:31 left in the half and the Bearcats lead 21-6 at the half.

Lake struck first in the second half when Donatello Pittman blocked a Forest punt and Shaquille Pinkston caught it in midair in the end zone or a touchdown. The try for two failed and Forest led 21-12.

“That was a huge play that got us back in the game,” Ingersoll said. “It kind of gave us the momentum.”

The Bearcats, now 6-2 on the year, went up 28-12 with Patrick scored on a 23-yard run with 5:22 left in the third quarter.

“Lake really had the momentum after blocking the punt,” Forest coach Jud Boswell said. “But I thought our kids did a great job of fighting through that and not giving up. They fought all the way to the end. It was a good win, any way you can get it.”

Lake then took control of the game and started to run at will on the Bearcat defense. Johnson capped off a 13-play drive when he scored on a 1-yard run with 10:50 left in the fourth.

After forcing a Bearcat punt, Lake went on a 14-play drive that covered 68 yards. Johnson bulled in from 4 yards out with 43.3 left in the game to make it 28-26. Bridges was then stopped at the goal line by a host of Forest defenders to give the Bearcats the win.

Lake finished the night with 251 yards of total offense with 226 coming on the ground. Bridges led the Hornets with 88 yards on 14 carries while Demario Combs had 74 yards on 18 carries.

On defense, Pittman led the Hornets with 10 tackles and a blocked punt. Maurice Williams had nine tackles while Bridges added eight.

        

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