The Lansing football team earned a statement win at Mill Valley on Friday, edging the host Jaguars 28-27. Taking on such a tough conference opponent in week one, head coach Bill Pekarek said, had his boys fired up for the contest.
“It’s a great win,” Pekarek said. “Any time you can beat Mill Valley that’s a good win for you. We’re feeling good about it.”
Even though they did pull off the Kaw Valley League win, with five turnovers in the game Pekarek said he knows his team could have done even better.
“We know we could have played better, we just turned it over too many dang times. The things I’m proud about with our players is that despite the turnovers, despite Mill Valley being right there with us, our kids kept fighting back and never gave up. That’s the true character of a great team. It’s never over, they’re going to keep fighting.”
The Lions and Jaguars were locked in quite a battle on Friday. Lansing took the early advantage, scoring on a 15-yard scramble by quarterback Litton Van Der Werff in the first quarter. Brad Brown nailed the point-after kick to make it a 7-0 ballgame, but Mill Valley would score two quick touchdown in the second quarter to take back the lead.
Spencer Blew used a one-yard touchdown run to tie the game back up at 14, Brown once again making the kick, and Tyler Terron pulled in an interception to give the Lions a chance at the lead before the break. Lansing would do just that, Van Der Werff finding Parker Gibson with a 32-yard pass. With another good kick by Brown, the Lions took a 21-14 advantage into the locker room.
“We’d scored right before the half and that was huge for us,” Pekarek said. “It gave us the momentum and out of halftime we were getting the ball back. But then we threw an interception on the first play and let them right back in it.”
Mill Valley would score the lone touchdown of the third quarter to once again knot the game, this time at 21. The Jaguars went back on top late in the fourth, but a failed point-after kick left the door open for the Lions.
“At the end we took it over with 1:54 left and we scored with 1:01,” Pekarek said. “They’d missed an extra point when they scored, they had a bad snap and didn’t even get to kick, so all we had to do was kick the extra point to win it.”
Terron came in as quarterback for the final series, throwing a 12-yard pass to Gibson on the first play before connecting with Gibson again on a 72-yard pass to set up a short touchdown run. Blew pushed it across with a two-yard run and Brown once again hit the kick to give Lansing the one-point victory.
Also helping seal the win were two fourth-quarter sacks by Cameron Trout, both for losses.
“It was a heck of a win for us,” Pekarek said. “We kept battling back. ... It was a pretty big win for us.”
The Lions had another tough test ahead, hosting Turner next week for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
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The Lansing football team earned a statement win at Mill Valley on Friday, edging the host Jaguars 28-27. Taking on such a tough conference opponent in week one, head coach Bill Pekarek said, had his boys fired up for the contest.
“It’s a great win,” Pekarek said. “Any time you can beat Mill Valley that’s a good win for you. We’re feeling good about it.”
Even though they did pull off the Kaw Valley League win, with five turnovers in the game Pekarek said he knows his team could have done even better.
“We know we could have played better, we just turned it over too many dang times. The things I’m proud about with our players is that despite the turnovers, despite Mill Valley being right there with us, our kids kept fighting back and never gave up. That’s the true character of a great team. It’s never over, they’re going to keep fighting.”
The Lions and Jaguars were locked in quite a battle on Friday. Lansing took the early advantage, scoring on a 15-yard scramble by quarterback Litton Van Der Werff in the first quarter. Brad Brown nailed the point-after kick to make it a 7-0 ballgame, but Mill Valley would score two quick touchdown in the second quarter to take back the lead.
Spencer Blew used a one-yard touchdown run to tie the game back up at 14, Brown once again making the kick, and Tyler Terron pulled in an interception to give the Lions a chance at the lead before the break. Lansing would do just that, Van Der Werff finding Parker Gibson with a 32-yard pass. With another good kick by Brown, the Lions took a 21-14 advantage into the locker room.
“We’d scored right before the half and that was huge for us,” Pekarek said. “It gave us the momentum and out of halftime we were getting the ball back. But then we threw an interception on the first play and let them right back in it.”
Mill Valley would score the lone touchdown of the third quarter to once again knot the game, this time at 21. The Jaguars went back on top late in the fourth, but a failed point-after kick left the door open for the Lions.
“At the end we took it over with 1:54 left and we scored with 1:01,” Pekarek said. “They’d missed an extra point when they scored, they had a bad snap and didn’t even get to kick, so all we had to do was kick the extra point to win it.”
Terron came in as quarterback for the final series, throwing a 12-yard pass to Gibson on the first play before connecting with Gibson again on a 72-yard pass to set up a short touchdown run. Blew pushed it across with a two-yard run and Brown once again hit the kick to give Lansing the one-point victory.
Also helping seal the win were two fourth-quarter sacks by Cameron Trout, both for losses.
“It was a heck of a win for us,” Pekarek said. “We kept battling back. ... It was a pretty big win for us.”
The Lions had another tough test ahead, hosting Turner next week for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
