LINDEN — Lebanon and North both didn’t want to drop their second straight Sagamore Conference game on Friday as the two conference rivals squared off at North Montgomery. Both teams dropped very close games a week ago as the Chargers fell to county rival Southmont 14-12 while Lebanon was edged out by a single point in a 14-13 loss to Danville. The Tigers defense would bend but not break all night long as they would allow the Chargers to constantly move the ball into their territory but only surrender six points as Lebanon defeated North Montgomery 27-6.
Known for primarily throwing the ball, Lebanon used a balanced attack tallying 424 total yards. Senior quarterback Landon Fouts threw for 288 while Lebanon added another 136 on the ground. “We were able to have that balanced attack a week ago too, the difference then was turnovers,” Tiger coach Jeff Smock said. “We took advantage tonight and were able to have some big plays while also running the ball very effectively. We’re still gaining experience up front as four of our five guys are playing just their fourth varsity game.”
The big plays that Smock mentioned all resulted in touchdowns for the Tigers as senior tail-back Carson Toole got the scoring going for Lebanon as he busted up the middle of the Charger defense for a 50-yard score at the 7:53 mark of the 1st quarter. North Montgomery responded with a 22 yard strike from the arm of Ross Dyson as he found Mikale Willis on a 4th & 9 from the Tiger 22 to get the Chargers on the board to make it 7-6 after failed two-point conversion.
Founts then began to find standout sophomore 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 downs, Lark scored a 64 yard touchdown which gave the Tigers a 20-6 lead. To put the final icing on the cake, Lark would add a 54 yard score mid-way through the fourth as he ended the game with 5 catches for 161 yards and three touchdowns.
“Kaden is a real special talent,” Smock said of the sophomore. “He’s still a pup and is learning along the way. We felt like with the way North plays some of their coverages we could get him open. Once we were able to get our running game going, that allowed for Kaden to make his way behind the defense for those long scores.”
Offensively for the Chargers they moved the ball very well on the ground tallying 230 total yards rushing. Dyson provided the bulk of that as he carried the ball 19 times for 137 yards. Gage Galloway added in 75 in the losing effort for the Chargers.
“Our offense was able to move the ball tonight,” Charger coach Josh Thompson said. “Unfortunately we just couldn’t finish in the end zone like we needed to. I can’t complain about our effort and our kids are still playing hard. Lebanon is definitely a fast team and we have to keep a team like that in front of us and secure the tackle. There’s just some things like that that we still have to fix moving forward.”
The last two weeks the Tigers have held their opponents to 20 total points. For Smock he noted how that’s something he’s really enjoyed 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 feel like we have great game plan going in no matter who our opponent might be. Coach (Josh) DeBard does a great job of getting those guys ready each and every week. Our guys have bought into what we’re trying to teach them and are beginning to execute 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) will host Frankfort as the Tigers look to go over .500.
