Lakota East knocks off Mason

After a shutout loss to Sycamore last week, the Lakota East Thunderbirds were looking to rebound on Friday night against the tough Mason Comets. The Thunderbirds did just that, defeating the Mason Comets 21-17 on Senior Night at Thunderhawks Stadium.

“It was a great win for our seniors in their last home game and a great win for our program,” Lakota East Head Coach Rick Haynes said. “Now we get back on the winning track after playing poorly last week.”

The win improved Lakota East’s overall record to an even 4-4, with a winning 3-2 Greater Miami Conference record. Mason fell to 5-3 overall and a 3-2 GMC record.

The Comets got the first points on the board as the first quarter seconds were ticking when quarterback Jake Harris found tight end Christian Hutchinson from 21 yards out to put Mason ahead of Lakota East 7-0 at the end of the first quarter.

Lakota East struggled to find a groove on offense to begin the game. The Comets forced the Thunderhawks to punt on their first three offensive possessions to begin the game.

After the Thunderhawks defense forced and recovered an integral fumble midway through the second quarter, the offense came on the field to drive 60 yards for its first score of the game when Silas Ingram found the end zone on a seven-yard rush. The failed extra point prevented Lakota East from tying Mason, but only trailed by one-point with 2:12 left in the second quarter.

Mason was determined to find the end zone one more time before halftime. The offense was successful in that feat when Matthew Sora found the end zone on a short four-yard rush to put the Comets up 14-6 at halftime.

Out of halftime, Lakota East came out firing. Quarterback Dylan Fry found wideout Brendan Munro for 36 yards before getting tackled at the Mason six-yard line. That set up a six-yard pass from Fry to Tyler VanFossen in the end zone and with a successful two-point conversion, the game was tied at 14.

Mason responded on its first possession of the second half. After getting stopped on a 3rd-and-3, the Comets attempted to get the Thunderhawks offside. The failed attempt resulted in Mason calling a timeout and instead, bringing out its kicker, Andrew Hauer, to kick a 40-yard field goal. The kick split the uprights and Mason retook the lead 17-14 with 3:47 left in the third quarter.

Lakota East didn’t take long to respond. After penalties forced the Thunderhawks to its own 11-yard line and facing a 3rd-and-19, Andrew Jaeger found Xavier Warren in the open field, who took the ball 77 yards down to the Mason 11. Fry capped off the drive himself, taking snap and running it in from six yards out to take the 21-17 lead. That score stood until the final buzzer sounded.

Lakota East finished the game with 164 rushing yards on 44 rushes, led VanFossen who had 79 yards of his own. Ingram and Fry had the two rushing touchdowns for the Thunderhawks. The Thunderhawks also had 133 passing yards on only four completions. The longest pass for Lakota East came from Jaeger, who tossed a 77 yard bomb to Xavier Warren.

Mason was led on offense by Harris, who completed 10 of 17 passes for 138 yards and one touchdown. Austin Croy led all receivers with seven receptions on 102 yards. Christian Hutchinson had the only Mason receiving touchdown. Michael Kopaygorodsky led Mason rushers with 86 yards on 14 carries.

Despite the three punts to start the game, the Thunderhawk offense eventually came together and put enough drives together to put away the Comets.

“I think they just got a little better (after the punts),” Haynes said. “They (Mason) lined up in a defense we had not practiced against but our kids made the adjustments and played well after that.”

Lakota East Head Coach Rick Haynes was pleased with his team’s well-fought GMC win, but says the key is staying healthy down the stretch.

“We got to stay healthy this time of year and stick to the fundamentals,” Haynes said. “If you don’t play well, you get embarrassed in this league.”

Lakota East (4-4, 3-2 GMC) will have another tough matchup next week when it travels to Fairfield. Fairfield lost to the first-place Colerain Cardinals on Friday night.

Mason (5-3, 3-2 GMC) returns home next week to take on the Princeton Vikings.

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