Four games into his head-coaching career, it’s been hard to get a read on Marcus Paschal’s Largo Packers team.
The Packers have had a roller coaster first month of the 2014 season, following up a blowout win in the opener with a blowout loss, and then a close win with a close loss.
So the question entering Friday night was, which Packers team would show up at home against Lakewood – the one that has won 10 straight district titles, or the one that got embarrassed by East Lake, 42-0, three weeks ago?
The answer was a little bit of both, as the Packers came out flat and trailed 13-0 midway through the second quarter before tying the game at the break, and then got a huge touchdown pass from Donovan Hale to Jonathon Crawford in the final minute to pull off an exciting 32-27 win over Lakewood.
“This was big,” Coach Paschal said afterwards.
“We don’t have the team that we’ve had in the past, but as long as we keep getting better, that’s all I’m looking for.”
Largo (3-2) definitely got better as the game went on, because the team was nearly invisible on both sides of the ball for much of the first half.
Lakewood star quarterback Ryan Davis (18-35, 245 yds, TD; 56 rush yds) had his way with the Packers’ secondary early on, going 10-20 for 163 yards in the opening half, while senior running back Tyriek Hopkins notched 126 of his game-high 179 yards and two of his three touchdowns before the break.
But Largo found some life when running back John Clark ripped off a 60-yard touchdown run with two minutes to go, and when junior Brandon Drayton blocked a punt and ran it back 50 yards for a score to close the half, suddenly the game was tied at 13 and Largo was right back in it.
“We really needed that,” Paschal said of Drayton’s play.
The teams traded scores in the third quarter, with Largo getting a 24-yard touchdown pass from Donovan Hale to junior Dakari Allen and a seven-yard score by Clark (87 yds, 2TDs), while Lakewood (2-3) used a touchdown pass from Davis to Adrian Adams to briefly take the lead, 21-19.
The fourth quarter was filled with miscues, as both clubs committed costly penalties that nullified huge plays.
After Hale was picked off by Lamontez Pritchett with just under six minutes to play, the Spartans immediately capitalized, marching 67 yards in 8 plays before Hopkins scored from two yards out to give Lakewood a 27-26 lead with less than three minutes left.
But that’s when Largo dug deep.
Starting at their own 27-yard line, Hale (16-31, 243 yds, 2TDs) drove his club all the way to the Spartans’ 10 in just two minutes.
An incompletion made it 3rd and 8 from their own 10 with 28 seconds to go, and that’s when Hale found fellow senior Crawford for what wound up being the game- winning score.
“When I threw the pick I was like dang, I blew it,” Hale admitted. “But then they scored and we got the ball back, and I started telling my teammates this game is not over.”
“Being the quarterback and a senior, I gotta to step up and be a leader, and they listened to me, so that’s good.”
As for Lakewood, head coach Cory Moore was happy with the way his team played, despite the fact that they lost while outgaining Largo, 495-361.
“I’m glad our guys battled and played hard,” he said. “Both teams had opportunities and they capitalized on them.”
“All we’re trying to do is get ourselves together for our district games. This was a good test for us, and no one got injured, so we’ll go from here.”