By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Lamar’s offense saved its best drive for the fourth quarter in Saturday’s Class 2 quarterfinal against visiting Pembroke Hill.
After the Tigers’ 17-0 lead was trimmed to four points with 9:26 left to play, Lamar mounted a classic 15-play scoring drive that erased nearly eight minutes from the clock and sealed a 24-13 triumph over the visiting Raiders. It sets up a semifinal rematch against Bowling Green, a team Lamar knocked off 47-16 last fall.
“It’s tough to put into words sometimes on Saturdays, our program’s been so blessed and fortunate to have a bunch of these,” Lamar coach Jared Beshore said. “The kids came out and executed when we needed to. Were there mistakes? Yes. Were there some penalties? Yes, but in the key moments of the game, especially defensively and there on that last drive offensively, we made plays when we had to. Our kids stepped up to the challenge. Very proud of them. Like we said there in the huddle, we’re just excited to have another week.”
The defending Class 2 champions, now 9-4, will host Bowling Green at 1 p.m. Saturday. The Bobcats, 12-1, defeated Valle Catholic 36-28 in another quarterfinal.
Lamar took a 14-0 lead in the first half against Pembroke Hill, with Terren Williams scoring on a 10-yard run less than five minutes in and adding a 2-yard scoring plunge early in the second quarter. The Tigers’ defense was the big story early on.
The Raiders entered Saturday with an 11-0 record and averaging better than 41 points per game excluding a 2-0 win in September, but only moved across the 50 on one possession in the first half. After punting their first three possessions, Pembroke Hill went for it on 4th and 2 from its own 44 and lost two yards the final time it touched the ball before the break.
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Pembroke Hill opened the third by quickly moving to the Lamar 10 before losing a yard and then throwing incomplete three times to turn it over on downs.
That set up a seven-plus minute Lamar drive capped by a 21-yard field goal from Chris Juarez to make it 17-0 with 2:48 left in the third.
“Our defense has been playing lights out as of late,” Beshore said. “Coach Wilkerson and coach Bailey have those guys playing the best football at the right time of year. Defensive line is filling their gaps, getting pressure on the quarterback. Linebackers and defensive backs are in their fits and covering their keys. It’s impressive to watch. That’s a unit that struggled early in the year and now they’re playing their best football and it’s at the right time.”
The visitors finally found some offensive rhythm after that, with Joshua Stahl throwing a 16-yard touchdown pass to Giles Kearns with 23 seconds remaining in the third. After a Lamar fumble at its own 46 early in the fourth, Pembroke Hill scored again on a 1-yard run by Stahl. The extra point was blocked to leave it 17-13.
And then came Lamar’s 7 minute, 43 second drive to put the game away. It included a 4th and 1 conversion run by Alex Wilkerson and a 3rd and 3 conversion by Wilkerson before the senior quarterback dove in from the 1 to make it 24-13 with 1:43 left to play.
“We hang our hat on our offensive and defensive lines and offensive line wise we challenged those guys this week big time,” Beshore said. “Coach Q, our offensive line coach; coach Martin, our offensive line coach, challenged those guys up front. I think they just took on that challenge at the end. We were finishing runs, playing clean football and opening up holes for those guys in the backfield. Taking eight minutes off the clock, that’s huge. Time of possession in a close ballgame, being able to punch it in after taking eight minutes off the clock, that’s what we didn’t do in the first half and so doing it there at the end was satisfying.”
Lamar’s Karson Parker recovered a fumble with 1:27 on the clock to extinguish any remaining Pembroke Hill hopes.
The Tigers totaled 155 rushing yards in the first quarter and finished the game with 386 yards on the ground on 67 carries. Williams totaled 195 yards on 25 carries and Carson Sturgell added 129 yards on 14 carries.
Pembroke Hill was limited to 88 yards passing and 103 rushing yards.
