Lima Senior’s Kahliq Wash catches a pass against Toledo Rodgers’ Jaylen Lee during Friday’s game at Spartan Stadium.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
Most high school football teams would consider passing for 162 yards in the first half a good thing.
But for Lima Senior’s high-flying offense, doing that was more like a check engine light blinking on a dashboard during a 37-6 win over Toledo Rogers on Friday night at Spartan Stadium.
The Spartans (7-0, 3-0 Toledo City League) started slowly and led only 8-6 at halftime. But they got up to speed in the second half to get the win and start the season 7-0 for only the second time since 1972.
“We sputtered a little bit today,” Lima Senior coach Bill Lawrence said. “I’ve got to go to the film and see what they (Rogers) did early on. We made some mistakes and went to the locker room and regrouped. We need these situations to get better for the future.
“I think it was more about what we were doing. We were having breakdowns up front, we were having breakdowns with receivers and breakdowns opposite each other. Once we all got back to the same page and got in rhythm and mixed in the run and kind of made them make some decisions that put us in some good positions,” he said.
Lima Senior got a touchdown on an 8-yard pass from Ja’Niaus Hall to Amontre Davis on its first possession of the game and didn’t score again until late in the third quarter.
Rogers (2-5, 2-2 Toledo City League) cut the lead to 8-6 on a 34-yard touchdown pass from Jamar Johnson to Marquise Westley with 8:33 left in the first half.
The Rams nearly took the lead late in the first half when Nakai Adams got loose for a 48-yard run which appeared destined to become a touchdown until Lima Senior’s Darius Routson’s dive enabled him to grab Adams around an ankle and bring down at the 5-yard line.
Hall finished 23 of 39 for 365 yards and three touchdowns after being sacked four times and throwing two interceptions in the first half.
Lima Senior dominated the third quarter statistically and rolled up 128 yards of total offense to Rogers’ seven yards in those 12 minutes. But it wasn’t until the final 1:57 of the third quarter when that dominance began to show up on the scoreboard.
A 16-yard touchdown run by Isaiah Wilson with 1:57 left in the third quarter, which came at the end of a 6-play, 57-yard drive, gave Lima Senior a 15-6 lead.
Hall connected with Keyon Smith for a 22-yard touchdown pass to make it 24-6 with 10:42 left in the game.
The last two Spartans scores came on big-yardage plays, one on defense, the other on offense.
With 8:06 left in the game, linebacker Tavion Banks picked up a fumble and went 73 yards for a touchdown that put Lima Senior up 29-6.
Then with 3:53 to play Hall and Kahliq Wash combined for an 88-yard touchdown pass which gave Lima Senior a 37-6 lead.
“We just got the ball to our playmakers and they made plays. Our defense played well, holding them to six points. They’ve done a phenomenal job all year,” Lawrence said.
