Brown Runs Braves to Win: Lake Gibson 21, Lake Wales 10

Sat. September 08, 2012 at 4:05 a.m. | By Polk Preps Staff

By DEL MILLIGAN

THE LEDGER

LAKE WALES | Lake Gibson coach Keith DeMyer wasn't sure how the freshmen and sophomores on his offensive line would handle Lake Wales' speed on the defensive front on Friday night at Legion Field, so he made it simple in the second half — hand the ball to running back Tyler Brown.

The senior relished the assignment. After eight carries for 29 yards in the first half, Brown punished Lake Wales in the second half, erupting for 146 yards on 18 carries to finish with 26 rushes for 175 yards.

Lake Gibson rode Brown to a 21-10 high school football victory over the Highlanders in front of 750 fans who sat through intermittent showers.

"He runs hard like that all the time,'' DeMyer said. "We were leary about doing a lot of stuff. But they did a great job up front in the second half.''

Lake Wales coach Rod Shafer said the loss of linebacker David Jones in the second half hurt the Highlanders' run defense. But he gave full credit to the Braves,

"When the chips were down in the second half, they took it to us,'' Shafer said.

Lake Gibson, 2-0, took control with a 67-yard touchdown drive, capped by Brown's 16-yard scoring gallop with 9:07 left, for an 18-10 lead. The Braves converted two fourth-down plays to keep the drive alive, one a 9-yard pass to Jordan Smith and the other a 4-yard gain.

Place-kicker Beckly Njoh put the game out of reach with a 22-yard field goal with 2 minutes left for the 21-10 lead.

The Highlanders, 0-2, couldn't overcome five turnovers, including losing four of five fumbles on a rain-slicked field. Lake Gibson fumbled once and recovered it.

Lake Gibson quarterback Trey Congdon, a junior, completed 12-of-23 passes for 162 yards.

Lake Gibson 6 0 6 9 — 21

Lake Wales 3 0 7 0 — 10

First Quarter

LW - Tate Mathewson 37 FG (8:07)

LG - Carter 32 pass from Congdon, pass failed (1:37)

Third Quarter

LG - Congdon 1 run, kick failed (4:48)

LW - Reeves 2 run, Mathewson kick (1:31)

Fourth Quarter

LG - Brown 16-run, kick blocked (9:07)

LG - Njoh 22 FG (2:00)

           LG    LW

First downs 14 12

Rushes/Yards 33/162 36/148

Passing 12-23-1 3-16-1

Passing Yards 162 48

Total Yards 334 196

Fumbles/Lost 1/0 5/4

Punts/avg. 6/26.7 3/ 41.3

Penalties/Yards 15/126 9/57

Records 2-0 0-2

Individual Statistics

Rushing: LG - Brown 26-175; LW - Reeves 13-85.

Passing: LG - Congdon 12-23-1, 1 TD; LW - Garrett 3-16-1.