Lamar hangs on to beat Raiders

LAMAR — In the first half of Lamar’s homecoming game against Hannah-Pamplico on Friday, the Silver Foxes were a confident team, pounding the Raider defense en route to a 14-point halftime lead.

The second half told a different story. Lamar had to weather two turnovers and costly penalties to escape with a 14-12 win at rain-soaked Donald R. Poole Stadium.

“Penalties and dropped passes hurt us tonight,” said Silver Foxes coach J.R. Boyd, whose team now has won seven straight games. “Hannah-Pamplico played hard tonight. Hats off to them.”

“We got down there close in the first half, and we missed a field goal,” Hannah-Pamplico coach Kirk Mays said. “We had to win the second half and keep fighting.

“They didn’t run out of fight, they just ran out of time. I’m proud of my players and my coaching staff.”

For the second consecutive week, Lamar was sluggish in the final 24 minutes, and Boyd was not pleased about it.

“It started in the second half of last week’s game (against Scott’s Branch),” he said. “We weren’t focused for 48 minutes, and when you have teams trying to knock you off the top of the (Region 7-A) ladder, you have to be ready to play.

“We’re not rising to the occasion right now. We need to learn how to finish games.”

Lamar’s Jonathan Dargan sliced his way through the rain and the Raider defense in the first half, scoring on touchdown runs of 14 and 10 yards to give his team a 14-0 lead at the break.

Then Dargan made a critical error on the first play of the second half. The senior running back fumbled the ball to Hannah-Pamplico at the Lamar 19.

Six plays later, the Raiders made the Silver Foxes (7-1 overall, 3-0 in region) pay. Malik Brown galloped into the end zone untouched from 4 yards away. Patrick Ward’s PAT attempt was blocked, but Hannah-Pamplico trailed just 14-6 at the 8:36 mark of the third quarter.

The Raiders got even closer late in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Mason Ard completed a short pass to Jamal Simon, and the senior wideout outran the Silver Fox defense on a 75-yard scoring play.

But Darius Brown knocked down Brown’s 2-point conversion pass, leaving the Raiders trailing 14-12 with 3:33 remaining.

Hannah-Pamplico (5-3, 1-2) had one final chance to pull off the upset. Trevor Norris, however, ended the Raiders’ dreams by knocking down Ard’s fourth-down desperation pass at the Foxes 30 with four seconds left.

“We’re a good football team. We’re not going anywhere,” Mays said. “We’re ready to make a push for the postseason and see what we can do.”

Lamar hosts East Clarendon next Friday, while the Raiders travel to Scott’s Branch. Both games kick off at 7:30 p.m.