COLONY — Brent Smith isn’t crazy about his team’s slow starts.
But he’s quite pleased with the way Crest High’s Lancers can finish.
For the second consecutive week, Crest High’s Lancers had troubles putting points on the scoreboard before halftime.
And for the second consecutive week, the Lancers turned on the jets after intermission, this time pouring in 30 fourth-quarter points in a 46-12 win over visiting Miami R-1 School of Amoret, Mo..
The win keeps the Lancers’ record spotless on the season at 3-0.
Crest was propelled with a punishing ground attack, paced by quarterback Kyle Hammond’s 156 yards and three touchdowns.
Meanwhile, the Lancer defense was stout all evening — despite a few mental errors — forcing four Miami turnovers and stopping other Eagle scoring chances.
It added up to an 8-0 lead at halftime and a 16-0 lead by the end of the third quarter
“We knew we’d be in a dogfight,” Smith said. “We knew they’d play hard. That made us play harder.”
Play hard they did.
Miami controlled the clock for much of the first quarter, its first drive stalling inside the Crest 30-yard line.
The teams traded punts before Crest put together its only scoring drive in the half, a march that ended with 11:14 left in the second quarter on an eight-yard touchdown run by Kyle Hammond.
The Lancers failed to take advantage when Hammond ended Miami’s next drive with an interception return to the Eagle 31-yard line midway through the second period.
Then, the Lancer defense stepped up late in the first half after the Eagles blocked a punt deep in Crest territory. Crest’s defense held Miami without a first down and the Eagles turned the ball over on a failed fourth-down run with 22 seconds left in the half at the Lancer 21.
The Lancers scored midway through the third quarter on another Hammond touchdown run, this one from 12 yards away to push the lead to 16-0.
Miami notched a touchdown to close the gap to 16-6 early in the four period before Crest’s Dexter Wiley scored on a 14-yard touchdown, followed by a Jordan Morton 38-yard touchdown run to push the Lancers on top 32-6.
Miami’s returned the subsequent kickoff for its second and final touchdown to close the cap to 32-12.
Two more scores for the Lancers, a 50-yard run by Hammond and a 65-yard interception return by Wiley, produced the final margin.
“I was happy with how we played in the second half,” Smith said. “We made some good stops defensively and our offense stepped up at times.”
Morton added 76 yards on the ground, while Dakota Ramsey had 22 yards and Wiley 14.
Crest rolled up 268 yards rushing in the contest.
Luck Decker was busy on defense, racking up 20 tackles, including a quarterback sack. Ramsey added 19, Hammond had 12, Thomas Dietrich 10, Wiley nine and Jesse Boone nine.
Hammond and Wiley had interceptions. Morton and Cole Bowen recovered Eagle fumbles.
Crest travels to Madison next Friday.
Miami 0-0-6-6—12
Crest 0-8-8-30—46
Crest — Hammond 8 yd run (Ramsey run)
Crest — Hammond 12 yd run (Hammond run)
Miami — Cumpton 12 yd run (PAT failed)
Crest — Wiley 14 yd run (Hammond run)
Crest — Morton 38 yd run (Wiley pass from Hammond)
Miami — Good 50 yd kickoff return (PAT failed)
Crest — Hammond 50 yd run (Hammond run)
Crest — Wiley 65 yd interception return (PAT failed)
Lancers finish off the Eagles
