There were just too many mistakes to overcome.
Lake Charles College Prep and Kinder were going back and forth in Friday night’s non-district contest. The visiting Blazers held a 21-18 lead at halftime but the game would be busted open with Yellowjacket miscues.
A pair of missed extra point attempts and a failed two-point conversion in the first half, three lost fumbles on offense — including one which resulted in a defensive touchdown, a lost fumble on a kickoff and a few blown coverages on defense.
All of those helped turn a close game into a 43-18 defeat in Kinder’s final game before district play begins.
“We made too many mistakes especially against a team as good as Lake Charles College Prep is,” Kinder coach Bret Fuselier said. “Four lost fumbles. One of those fumbles was a scoop and score when we were backed up in our territory. Then right before half we are about to score going into halftime and then we fumbled it inside our own 10-yard line. Those hurt us.”
Kinder (1-2) started off the game strong with a pair of touchdown drives which were capped with a three-yard touchdown pass from Griffin Cooley to Brandon White and a nine-yard run by Graham Fawcett. The Yellow Jackets though missed the extra point attempt and the two-point conversion.
In between the two Kinder scores, LCCP (1-2) got on the scoreboard with a 22-yard touchdown pass from Dillon Simon to JaThan Royal. Simon — a South Alabama commitment was 15-of-18 for 203 yards while also adding 29 rushing yards.
LCCP then took the lead in the second quarter.
The Blazers scored with a 23-yard run by Simon and then Jeremiah May returned a fumble back 15 yards for the touchdown. Simon then hit Royal for a two-point conversion and held a 21-12 lead.
Kinder cut into the lead with a one-yard run by Tylan Ceasar and had the ball one final time before halftime. Unfortunately for the Yellow Jackets they lost another fumble.
LCCP broke the game open in the second half.
The Blazers put together a pair of scoring drives in the third quarter as Simon hit Solomon Lewis for a 18-yard touchdown. Then after forcing a turnover on downs on Kinder’s next possession, LCCP produced a back-breaking 63-yard touchdown pass from Simon to Glynn Johnson.
Johnson — a New Mexico commitment — led all wide receivers with three receptions for 114 yards.
“We had trouble getting off the field on third down,” Fuselier said. “We had good coverage but the quarterback scrambled and hit a wide receiver who leaked out and scored a touchdown.”
LCCP added another score in the fourth quarter — a 21-yard touchdown run by Royal who led all rushers with 116 yards.
LCCP’s defense meanwhile shutout Kinder in the final two quarters.
“This is one of the things we know about ourselves because we don’t have quick strike ability,” Fuselier said. “We are not built to come from behind like that but our kids fought hard and played to the end.”
Cooley led the Yellow Jackets on the ground with 41 yards on 12 carries while Ceasar added 41 yards on 12 carries.
Fuselier though cited those multiple mistakes as something his team will need to clean up sooner than later.
“Those mistakes we committed is something we need to learn moving forward,” Fuselier added. “We can’t give teams like that an opportunity.”
Kinder now turns its attention to District 5-2A with Friday’s game at home against Rosepine. With last week’s loss, Kinder is once again entering its district slate with a losing record. Fuselier though is confident the Yellow Jackets will turn it around starting this week.
“We’ve been in this situation before,” Fuselier said. “We were 1-4 going into district play last year. Once thing we know is that the teams we have played so far have gotten us ready for the district schedule. We are looking forward to getting to the district.”
