Lovell wins 2A title
Lovell won their first football championship since 1987 and would finish an undefeated 11-0 season with a 21 to 13 win over Lyman. It is the second time they have beaten the Eagles this season.
The Bulldogs got the ball first and marched 86 yards in 10 plays, as Dino Collins (33 rushes for 138 yards) topped it off with a 12 yard run. PAT no good, and Lovell had a 6-0 lead.
Lyman had a hard time getting out of the blocks in the first 12 minutes. They had the ball 3 times, and went fumble, fumble and a turnover on downs just past mid-field.
The first drive for the Eagles in the 2nd quarter almost resulted in points, but they could not convert a 4th and 1 on the Lovell 8.
The Bulldogs then put together another long time-consuming march, going 92 yards in 17 plays for their next score. Collins punched it in from 3 yards away, and did the honors of the 2 point conversion. His team was up 14-0 at that point.
Special teams stepped up on the next possession, as Colin McArthur partially blocked a Lyman punt. Lovell then went 47 yards in 3 plays to take a 21-0 lead going into halftime.
Stat-wise for the first half was clearly in Lovell's favor as they had out-gained the opposition in yards, 234-130. Time of possession was also a factor as the Bulldogs hogged the ball for 15:34 compared to the Eagles' 8:26.
Lyman finally responded in the 3rd quarter. The Eagles needed 10 plays to go 80 yards, which included going for it on 4th and 23 from the Lovell 24. Wade Eyre hooked up with Gabe Holmstrom 24 yards for a score, and Lyman was on the board trailing 21-7, and it stayed that way going into the 4th quarter.
The Eagles would knock on the door again, but it took awhile to get the job done. The first effort resulted in a turnover on downs at the Lovell 21. The 2nd try resulted in Lyman turning the ball over via interception at the Bulldog 34. The Eagles would hit pay dirt again with less than 3 minutes left on the clock as Bransen Bradshaw ran in from 1 yard, but his team was down 21-13, and Lovell ran out the clock from there.
In the end, Lyman out-gained Lovell in yardage, 386-361. Eyre was 24-38 for 301 yards and 1 TD. Cisco Taylor caught 8 of those passes for 112 yards.
But the key factors in this game, was turnovers, 3rd down conversions, 4th down conversions and time of possession. Lyman turned the ball over 4 times compared to Lovell's 1 (3 of them on fumbles). Lovell was 10 of 17 on 3rd down conversions, compared to Lyman's 3 of 10. The Eagles were 1 of 6 on 4th down conversions.
As for time of possession, it was lopsided. 29 minutes and 10 seconds for Lovell, where Lyman only had the ball for 18 minutes and 50 seconds.
Defensively for Lyman, Kyle Stokes had 17 tackles and Nathan Jaggi had 16. For Lovell, Dillon Pickett had 12 tackles, and Brigham Hopkin had 10.
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