Codey Emerson | codey@jrpress.com
LINDEN — Lebanon and the North were unwilling to give up their second straight conference game from Sagamore on Friday as the two conference rivals faced off in North Montgomery. Both teams lost very close games a week ago as the Chargers fell to county rivals Southmont 14-12 while Lebanon were trailed by just one point in a 14-13 loss to Danville . The Tigers defense would bend but not break all night as they allowed the Chargers to constantly move the ball into their territory but would only give up six points as Lebanon beat North Montgomery 27-6.
Known for primarily throwing the ball, Lebanon used a balanced offense totaling 424 total yards. Senior quarterback Landon Fouts threw for 288 while Lebanon added 136 more on the ground. “We were also able to have that balanced offense a week ago, the difference then was turnovers,” Tiger coach Jeff Smock said. “We took advantage of that tonight and were able to make some big plays while running the ball very effectively. We continue to gain experience on offense as four of our five guys are playing just their fourth college game.
The big plays mentioned by Smock all resulted in touchdowns for the Tigers as lead back Carson Toole scored for Lebanon as he burst through the middle of the Charger defense for 50. yards at 7:53 from the mark. 1st trimester. North Montgomery responded with a 22-yard strike from the arm of Ross Dyson as he found Mikale Willis on a 4-and-9 from the Tiger 22 to bring the Chargers to the board to make it 7-6 after the two-up conversion failed points.
Founts then began to find second-year wide receiver Kaden Lark who scored the first of his three receiving touchdowns on the night with 7:53 left in the second quarter. Just four minutes later after a Charger turnover on the downs, Lark scored a 64-yard touchdown that gave the Tigers a 20-6 lead. To put the icing on the cake, Lark would add 54 yards midway through the fourth as he finished the game with 5 catches for 161 yards and three touchdowns.
“Kaden is a real special talent,” Smock said of the second. “He’s still a puppy and learning along the way. We felt like with the way North plays some of their covers, we could get him to open. Once we were able to get our running game started, it allowed Kaden to work his way behind the defense for those long scores.
Offensively for the Chargers, they moved the ball very well on the ground with a total of 230 rushing yards. Dyson provided the bulk of that carrying the ball 19 times for 137 yards. Gage Galloway added 75 points in the Chargers’ losing effort.
“Our offense was able to move the ball tonight,” Charger coach Josh Thompson said. “Unfortunately we couldn’t finish in the end zone like we had to. I can’t complain about our effort and our kids are still playing hard. Lebanon are definitely a fast team and we have to keep a team like that one in front of us and securing the tackle. There are just things like that that we still need to sort out moving forward.
The last two weeks, the Tigers have limited their opponents to 20 points in total. For Smock, he noted how it’s something he really enjoys seeing from his team against two tough opponents.
“North Montgomery is a very physical football team, there’s no doubt about that,” Smock said of the Tigers Chargers. “We think we have a great game plan no matter who our opponent is. Coach (Josh) DeBard does a great job of preparing these guys every week. Our guys have stuck to what we’re trying to teach them and start performing it.
North Montgomery (2-2, 0-2 SAC) will hit the road for another tough SAC tilt as they take on Western Boone.
Lebanon (2-2 1-1 SAC) to host Frankfort as Tigers look to overtake .500.
