Lake Gibson 28, Bartow 14

Sat. October 22, 2011 at 1:11 a.m. | By Polk Preps Staff

By MIKE AKINS

Ledger Correspondent

LAKELAND | Lake Gibson used a season high in rushing from Tyler Brown to post an important 28-14 victory over Bartow Friday night in a Class 6A, District 10 game in front of 900 fans on senior night at Virgil Ramage Stadium.

The junior running back rushed for 186 yards on 35 carries and scored one touchdown as Lake Gibson (6-2, 2-1) moved into the driver's seat for a possible playoff berth.

"The strength of our team especially the last two weeks has been the running game," Lake Gibson coach Keith DeMyer said. "When you have an effective running game, you keep the athletes that Bartow has on offense on the sideline."

After a scoreless first quarter, Lake Gibson scored the first touchdown of the game early in the second as quarterback Trey Congdon scored on a 1-yard run to complete an 11-play, 80 yard drive with 75 of those yards came from Brown.

The Yellow Jackets (2-5, 0-2) tied the game as Jeremy Manning scored on a 35-yard reception from quarterback Dimitri Leverett as he caught a slant, broke two tackles and outraced the Brave secondary for the score. He also threw a touchdown pass for Bartow's second touchdown, a 13-yard pass to Eric Rokkard in the fourth quarter.

"This game had so many twists and turns," Yellow Jackets coach Brett Biggs said. "We have a motto before every game which is, ‘Play your heart out,' and that is what they did tonight."

The Braves' defense played a bend-but-don't-break style as it allowed 321 yards of offense but held the visitors on downs three times.

In a contest that featured five turnovers, including three on three consecutive possesions in the third quarter, the Braves finished the scoring as senior defensive lineman Ray Lewis picked up a fumble and raced 20 yards to the end zone as the game ended to set off a wild celebration by the Brave team.

Lake Gibson travels to cross town rival Kathleen next week.