GUYTON, Ga. — After an unproductive first half, South Effingham’s offense couldn’t have been more efficient in the second half, scoring on all five possessions to defeat Lakeside 46-21 on Homecoming Friday night at the Corral.
The Mustangs (5-1, 2-1 Region 1-6A) rebounded from their first loss of the season a week ago to Grovetown and headed into their final off week with their sights set on Effingham County on Oct. 16.
“I’d love to see this team put all four quarters together,” SEHS coach Loren Purvis said. “It was a frustrating first half, but I told our guys to trust what we’re doing. There’s nothing wrong with what we’re calling. We got in a good rhythm and our kids started playing well.”
Mustangs find their rhythm
The Mustangs pulled ahead on Liam Coburn’s 26-yard touchdown pass to Semaj Calhoun in the third quarter, less than two minutes after Lakeside tied the game at 14.
Khyran White, who finished with 112 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries, followed with a 7-yard touchdown run to make it 28-14.
Coburn hooked up with Jackson McClure for a 19-yard score to start the fourth quarter, and Josh Mims and Kiran Boggess had scoring runs of 30 and 1 yards, respectively, to end the scoring.
McClure had five catches for 109 yards, all in the second half.
Coburn threw for 135 yards after intermission.
“I think Liam was just trusting what he saw,” Purvis said. “He was scared to pull the trigger. You get that with young quarterbacks. He’s just a freshman, but he’s grown a lot.”
Big plays set the tone
A day after the Mustangs volleyball team clinched a region championship, defensive specialist Jada Hill was named the Homecoming queen.
The pageantry overshadowed the Mustangs’ first-half struggles.
But big plays on special teams and defense gave South a 14-7 lead after 24 minutes.
Calhoun made the first big play with a 78-yard kickoff return. Four plays later, White powered into the end zone for a 6-0 advantage.
Late in the first quarter, defensive lineman Audrey Mack hauled in a tipped pass and returned it 25 yards to the Lakeside 5. On the next play, sophomore running back Darius Lane scored his first varsity touchdown on a 5-yard sweep.
White ran in a two-point conversion to make it 14-0.
The Panthers sliced the lead in half on their next possession. Quarterback Ben Herrington dropped a perfect pass between two defenders and into the hands of Andrew Cowart, who went 69 yards for a touchdown.
Herrington and Cowart had a 28-yard completion at the end of the half, but White was pushed out of bounds at the SEHS 3 to turn the ball over to the Mustangs.
Lakeside held huge advantages in yardage at halftime. The Panthers outgained South 147-5 through the air and 212-93 in total yardage.
Herrington finished with 258 yards and three touchdown passes. Cowart had eight catches for 181 yards and two scores.
