NEW HOPE — As lightning strikes danced in the nearby sky and fog crept across Trojan Field pregame, the ominous, Halloween-ish scene ahead of kickoff Friday night carried into New Hope’s ghastly 57-20 loss to Lafayette (6-2) eight days shy of All Hallows’ Eve.
In a contest short on continuity and long on mistakes, a slew of special teams mishaps doomed New Hope (2-6) against the No. 4-ranked team in MHSAA Class 5A.
“I feel our attitude is good; our effort is good,” New Hope head coach Wade Tackett said. “We’ve just got to stop making those self-inflicted mistakes.”
After Lafayette notched touchdown drives of 74 and 18 yards, the latter courtesy of a Trojan fumble, an errant snap by the New Hope punt team was booted out of the end zone for a safety less than a minute into the second quarter.
After Lafayette sophomore running back Jayden Reed scored the first of his two first-half touchdowns on a 5-yard run, the Trojans offense promptly went three and out and lined up for its third punt of the night. Bursting past the outer portion of the New Hope punt team, Lafayette outside linebacker D’Camron Lipsey blocked the kick as it spiraled out of bounds at the Trojan 14-yard line. Three plays later, Reed bowled through the New Hope defensive front for his second score of the night, this time of the 8-yard variety.
“He’s really good between the tackles,” Lafayette head coach Michael Fair said. “He’s patient — all big backs aren’t usually like that. But he’s just a sophomore, and I think he just gets better with every touch.”
The Trojans showed brief signs of life coming out of halftime. Junior quarterback Ty Crowell dashed through a gaggle of Lafayette defenders, bounced off another and scampered down the sideline for a 60-yard score to cut the Commodore lead to 14 points.
Violently shooing the Trojans away from striking distance, Reed busted through a seam for a 46 yard gain before Jagger Stovall punched it in from five yards out to push Lafayette’s lead back to three scores.
The final nail in New Hope’s proverbial coffin came as another low snap rolled toward the New Hope end zone before being kicked out the back for the night’s second safety. A fumble on the Trojans’ next offensive series was then promptly delivered 68 yards to the end zone by Trikyus Woodall.
As the fourth quarter began, only the New Hope cheerleaders could muster enough excitement to hold up four fingers in the air as the energy along the Trojans’ sideline had been deflated quicker than a pin through a balloon.
To the side of the New Hope bench, one player even called out to a slew of adults along the fence at Trojan Field to organize his ride home.
“Hey, let me ride with you,” he said. “This game is over.”
Lafayette mercilessly notched the final punch in a game filled with Commodore haymakers when sophomore Townes Hogue rushed 21 yards into the end zone for the night’s closing score after the play was set up by a dynamic 80-yard kickoff return by Mississippi State commit Brendan Toles.
“I should’ve scored on that last one,” Toles said through an ear-to-ear grin. “I just saw a huge hole, so I just took off.”
While Friday night’s horror-filled contest had its momentary glimpses of positivity, Tackett noted postgame the time has come for his young squad to mature beyond poor snaps and slews of fumbles.
“We play some really good teams, especially in this district,” he said. “Our out-of-district schedule is really good too, really tough. You can’t make those mistakes against those teams. We’re still a young team, but shoot, this is Week 8. We’ve got to grow up at some point and stop making those mistakes.”
Lafayette 57, New Hope 20
L 13 15 16 13 — 57
NH 7 0 7 7 — 20
First quarter
L — Tyrus Carmichael-Williams 51 run (Andrew Pugh kick)
NH — Ty Crowell 2 run (Cole Crawford kick)
L — Kylen Vaughn 6 pass from Carmichael-Williams (kick failed)
Second quarter
L — safety
L — Jayden Reed 5 run (Pugh kick)
L — Reed 8 run (Pugh kick)
Third quarter
NH — Crowell 60 run (Crawford kick)
L — Jagger Stovall 5 run (Pugh kick)
L — safety
L — Trikyus Woodall 68 fumble return (Pugh kick)
Fourth quarter
L — Benton Linzy 34 pass from William Dabney (Pugh kick)
NH — Zion Reed 2 run (kick failed)
L — Townes Hogue 21 run (kick failed)
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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