By Craig Brown
The Wild Gators hosted the Flashes of Johnsonville High Friday night and soundly defeated a very good Flashes team 26-0.
The Wild Gators were observing senior night and that made the win even sweeter.
Lake View Head Coach Daryl King and his very professional assistant coaches worked extra hard to prepare the Gators for this match.
Coach King stated that hard preparations began Monday at practice but actually they began last Friday night after the Chesterfield game as he and the staff stayed well into the morning hours preparing for this game. To be a winner it takes hard work on the part of the coaches and players, and the Wild Gators don’t shy away from the challenges.
The first quarter was almost over when Gator quarterback Derrick Bethea hit Trey Page with a deep pass near the goal line. Page pulled off one of the greatest receptions in Lake View history as the ball hit the Flashes defender coving Page in the back. Page reached around the defender and held onto the ball as they hit the ground. Everyone except Page thought it was going to be an incomplete pass. The completed pass set up a one-yard touchdown run by Treyvon Bellmon. The conversion failed but Lake View was up 6-0 with 2:03 left in the first quarter. The first quarter would end with this score.
On the Gators’ first possession of the second quarter, Marvin Gordon finished the drive with a 39-yard touchdown run. The conversion failed holding the Wild Gator lead to 12-0 with 10:14 left in the second quarter.
With 58 seconds left in the first half Bethea hit Page with a 48-yard touchdown pass. The conversion failed. The Wild Gators would take an 18-0 lead into the halftime break.
The third quarter was a scoreless defensive battle with the Wild Gators holding the 18-0 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Midway in the fourth quarter, Bellmon picked up his second touchdown of the game on a two-yard run. Bethea got the two-point conversion on a quarterback keeper run to give the Wild Gators a 26-0 lead and win.
Lake View team statistician Jimmy Sweat provided the games stats. On offense Derrick Bethea was 6 of 17 passing for 136 yards and a touchdown, Treyvon Bellmon had 139 yards on 28 carries with two touchdowns and caught a pass for six yards, Shaheed Dawkins caught two passes for 69 yards, Trey Page caught two passes for 60 yards and a touchdown, Marvin Gordon had 49 yards on four carries with a touchdown and caught a pass for positive yardage, and Tyrell Foxworth had 45 yards on four carries.
On defense, Michael McDaniel had 11 tackles and two quarterback sacks; Hunter Norton had nine tackles and a quarterback sack; Jayden Benjamin, Kamarik Bethea, and Camden Umphries had six tackles each with Benjamin adding a fumble recovery; Raekwon McNeil had five tackles; Tyrell Foxworth had four tackles with two fumble recoveries; Taqual McCants had three tackles with an interception; Luke King, Braylon Worley, and Luke Price had two tackles each.
The Wild Gators are scheduled to play in Timmonsville Friday night with game time set for 7:30.