STAMPS - Lafayette County was as good as advertised, and the undermanned Woodlawn Bears learned firsthand how explosive the Cougars could be as they used long touchdown runs on their first two offensive snaps to get a quick lead before settling for a 32-6 win Friday night at Keith Field in Stamps.
Woodlawn Coach Doug Means said they decided to call the game at halftime after the Bears got down to about nine healthy players.
Going in, Means was concerned about Lafayette County’s size and speed, and those concerns were merited.
After the Cougars recovered Woodlawn’s onside kick attempt to start the game, quarterback Jaz'mond Radford found the edge and went 49 yards untouched into the end zone. Zakarian Lawson bowled in for the conversion to give Lafayette County a quick 8-0 lead.
The Bears started the game without Ethan Saeler, who Means said was going through concussion protocol. That left Griffin Manes, Woodlawn’s leading rusher, as the primary target, and it was evident the Cougar defense had zeroed in on him.
Two incomplete pass attempts and Manes was dragged down for a two-yard loss, and the Bears punted after three downs. Taking over at the Lafayette County 38, Lawson, who stands 5-8 and weighs 245 pounds, busted through the line of scrimmage and rumbled 62 yards for the score. Radford’s two-pointer made it 16-0.
After another three-and-out by the Bears, a 16-yard run from Lawson followed by a 19-yard burst from Radford had the Cougars at the Woodlawn 20. On the next play, Radford found Jayden Sterling over the middle for a touchdown. Lafayette County added another two-pointer to extend its lead to 24-0.
After the ensuing kickoff went out of bounds, Woodlawn finally got its offense going after taking over at its own 35.
On the second play of the drive, Manes finally broke free and ripped off a 32-yard run down to the Cougar 33. Six plays later, after a recovered fumble resulted in an 11-yard loss, quarterback Parker Arnold dumped off a pass to running back Tayte McCain …