By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Lockwood football coach Clay Lasater was just a little bit worried how his top-seeded Tigers would look on Friday night after a bye last week.
Lockwood answered with six touchdowns in the first half and a dominant 62-12 win over fourth seed Greenfield in the 8-man District 1 semifinals.
The Tigers will host third seed Liberal next week after the Bulldogs upset second seed College Heights 44-28. Lockwood won the regular season matchup 69-8.
“What are you going to come out and play like after that bye week?” Lasater said. “I felt like our kids did a pretty good job tonight so hopefully we’re back in sync now and ready to go play for a district championship next Friday.”
Lockwood, 8-2, won its eighth in a row and has allowed an average of just 15 points over its last five games. The Tigers topped 60 points themselves for the fifth time.
“We started off with a couple of tough games early and we learned some things we weren’t doing really well,” Lasater said. “They just continue to work hard each week and get better. It’s been a nice little run.”
Lockwood set the tone on the first two possessions of the game. First, Greenfield (3-7) drove to the Tigers’ 4-yard line to open the game before Lockwood forced an incompletion on fourth and goal.
Then, on Lockwood’s first offensive play – after an offsides penalty moved the ball to the 9 – senior Hank Eggerman ran the distance for a 71-yard touchdown. Junior Nik Thieman scored on an 11-yard run later in the first, and senior quarterback Henry Schnelle passed to Eggerman for the conversion to make it 14-0.
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Barely a minute later, after freshman Roper Gray recovered a fumble at the Greenfield 35, Thieman took a toss and scored from the 8 to make it 20-0.
The visitors threatened again before the half. Greenfield converted a fourth-and-12 and advanced to the Lockwood 3 before junior Logan Pittsenbarger recovered a fumbled snap to end the drive.
The Tigers added a 19-yard score by Thieman and a Schnelle-to-Pittsenbarger two pointer to lead 28-0.
Again the Wildcats drove into Lockwood territory, this time getting as far as the 15 before the Tigers came up with a one-yard loss on fourth down.
Then Schnelle scored from the 4 to make it 34-0, Pittsenbarger came up with an interception in Lockwood territory, and Schnelle connected with Eggerman for a 41-yard score. Senior Rachel Baugh tacked on the extra point and Lockwood led 41-0 at the break.
“At times we moved the ball well,” Greenfield coach Jeremy Neville said. “We’d put four or five good things together and then a penalty or we’d kind of fumble the ball or something, we would shoot ourselves in the foot and it’s hard to score points when you do that against a team like Lockwood. Credit to Lockwood, the way they block, the way they tackle, the way they play fundamental. They’re a good, solid team.”
Eggerman scored on a 16-yard run and a 36-yard run after the half, while sophomore Owen Patterson scored on a 7-yard run and Baugh kicked three more extra points to make it 62-0.
“Our offensive line has been improving each week and I was really proud of how they played tonight,” Lasater said. “They did a really good job controlling the line of scrimmage and we were able to run the ball pretty effectively throughout the course of the game. Really proud of those guys. They’re all guys that were pretty much new this year. We replaced pretty much all of our starting line from last year so these guys have really stepped up and done a great job.”
Greenfield got on the board with a 38-yard pass from junior Austin Pickett to junior Devin Steeley, and again with a 2-yard run by senior Alexander PIckett.
