TJ Football loses 5th consecutive game to the Lakewood Tigers with a score of 28-14.
Photo by Mia Nogueira
The Spartan football team took to the field against Lakewood on Friday, October 1st looking to turn its season around, but was unable to come out with a victory, losing with a score of 28-14.
In the beginning of the first half, the team look sharp and on point with strong drives on both defense and offense. The Spartans started stronger than in previous games and didn’t make many early mistakes that would put them too far behind on the scoreboard. Offensively, TJ put the ball in the hands of their tailbacks and ran headfirst into the Tigers’ defense. Both starting running backs took it to the big house, with touchdowns by Senior Robert McMacken to get the scoring going, and another by Senior Lonnie Hampton to cap off the scoring for the half. When the whistle blew for the half time intermission, the Spartans found themselves on top with a score 14-7.
In the second half, the Spartans again were unable to close out the game and reverted back to previous bad habits and mistakes. The team again had problems with keeping possession of the ball and gave the Lakewood offense many short field opportunities because of mistakes made by TJ’s offense. Safety Robert McMacken saed, “It’s frustrating because we work so hard to earn every yard we get, but we lose all of our progress with a turnover or loss of yards.”
Coach Matt Nicolo agrees with McMacken saying, “We played a tough, physical football game. We made some critical mistakes that hurt us late in the game. However, we are improving every week, and now we just need to play 48 minutes of quality football to get back on the winning track.” As the final seconds ticked away at All City Field, the team’s mistakes had gotten the best of them and had resulted in three additional Lakewood touchdowns with a final score of 28-14.
The Football team looks to take a step in the right direction next Saturday, October 9th as they go head to head with the Lincoln Lancers. The game will be at All City Field and the starting whistle will blow at 4:00 pm.
