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Off and Running: Leopards' ground game paces blowout of Forney
BY Matt Welch, mwelch@starlocalnews.com
Starting a football game by scoring 38 unanswered points will do the trick against just about anybody.
In Friday's case, it was Lovejoy (2-0) which wound up the beneficiary of that equation, leaving Forney (1-1) in its rearview mirror early in an eventual 38-16 victory from City Bank Stadium.
"Our kids came out and played real well," said Matt Green, Lovejoy head coach. "We got points on our opening drive and stopped them, and that kind of set the tone for the rest of the night."
The Leopards wouldn't settle for three points the rest of the evening, ripping off five straight touchdowns, including three scores over their next four series. And just as backfield running mate senior Nick LaSane led the charge in Week 0 against Frisco Heritage, it was junior Dan Sefcik's turn to tote the rock, ripping off touchdown runs of 73 and 1 yards in the first half en route to a 23-0 lead at the break.
"Coming into this game, Forney tried to take some things away from us and Dan had his number called quite a bit," Green said. "The reality was the defense allowed us to use him more by the way they were lining up and he made plays."
Sefcik would add a 74-yard touchdown scamper in the third quarter, finishing with 193 yards on just nine carries, plus a team-high 93 receiving yards on five catches. It towed the line of the Leopards' multi-pronged rushing attack, with the lion's share of the runs split between Sefcik, LaSane and senior Zach Saffle.
Despite posting a 100-yard rusher in each of its two wins, no Lovejoy runner has carried the ball more than nine times, with Friday's win including LaSane posting 85 yards on eight touches and Saffle rushing for 27 yards and a touchdown on seven carries.
"We're always going to try to be balanced," Green said. "I hate loading up with one guy who carries the weight because that way, you're not very diversified on offense. We're trying to send that message."
The Leopards did their share of damage through the air too.
Freshman Bowman Sells connected with junior Justice Luce for a 34-yard score midway through the third quarter for a 31-0 advantage, just one minute before Sefcik's 74-yard run punctuated the Leopards' offensive onslaught for a 38-0 lead.
Sells' second game at the helm of the passing attack ended with 156 yards on 11-of-17 attempts with one touchdown and one interception.
The Jackrabbits failed to keep pace, missing a pair of field goals and having their most productive push in the first half squashed on a goal line stand just before halftime.
"[Forney] had a play here or there on us, but if we did give up a big play, our defense bulled their neck and didn't let them have anymore," Green said. "We played really aggressive, physical and tackled well."
The Leopards' front seven was controlling with seniors Kyle Romano, Thomas Kotecki, Drew Scolaro, Slayton Shiels and junior Mason Olk turning in banner evenings.
The lopsided outcome allowed Lovejoy to use backups for much of the second half.
"I got to play a lot of kids who don't have a lot of experience and that was a fantastic deal for our team," Green said. "We've really been trying to develop some depth, but overall, these guys played great."
The spread-oriented Jackrabbits got all 16 of their points inside the game's final 14 minutes, including a pair of touchdown passes from Jack King, who totaled 285 yards through the air. Forney was forced into 43 pass attempts in the loss, while Lovejoy should expect a very different look Friday at 7:30 p.m. in its home opener against run-heavy Frisco. Last season, the Leopards outlasted the Raccoons, 64-62, in one of the state's highest-scoring matchups.
In addition to 126 points, Frisco and Lovejoy totaled 1,186 yards of offense.
"This is going to be a tough challenge because [Frisco] has a very good offense," Green said. "They run the Wing-T, will run 4 yards and a cloud of dust and then, before you know it, they'll take it to the goal line. They'll be a big challenge to our defense."
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