Lewisville defense stifles Eau Claire in Lions’ fourth win
Lewisville’s defense dominated Eau Claire in a 40-16 Homecoming win.
The Lions defense looked unbreakable throughout the first half, sacking the Shamrocks six times and limiting them to only four first downs and negative-16 total yards.
Lewisville’s offense started slowly, but got it rolling in the second quarter with quarterback Rhett Cox throwing a 10-yard touchdown pass on fourth down and breaking a 49-yard run after the Lewisville special teams unit came up with a big block punt.
Lions head coach Will Mitchell said “It was a sloppy game, both teams competed very hard. We couldn’t pull away from them until the very end and every time it looked like we were going to pull away we would have some mistake. But we battled through it and hopefully we got out of it healthy.”
Lewisville’s star running back Quentin Sanders made up for not playing in the first quarter by rushing for an eight-yard touchdown on the Lions’ first possession of the second half. On the next offensive drive Cox threw a bomb to wide receiver Johnny Courtney, who outran the Eau Claire defender down the sideline for an 85-yard score to put the game out of reach.
Turning point
Eau Claire had a tough time getting their offense going with many Lions getting in the backfield to pressure quarterback Jordan Howell. The Shamrocks had two chances to score deep in Lewisville territory, but key sacks by the Lions defensive line held Eau Claire from scoring.
Star contributors
Lewisville’s entire defense was outstanding, allowing Eau Claire just 31 total yards with eight sacks. Lewisville’s Cox was a star on both sides of the ball with two sacks and one interception on defense adding to his 260 total yards and three touchdowns. Sanders ended the game rushing for 159 yards on 20 carries with two touchdowns.
Mitchell said “Cox is getting into his zone as far as running and throwing the ball and we got some different guys involved in the passing game. Everybody knows about Quentin Sanders right so we need to do what we can to get people off of him.”
On deck
Next week Lewisville will look to improve their record as they travel to Columbia to take on the C.A. Johnson Hornets.
Box score
Lewisville 40, Eau Claire 16
Eau Claire;0;9;0;7;-;16
Lewisville;6;12;16;6;-;40
SCORING SUMMARY
First quarter
LHS – Johnny Courtney 18 pass from Rhett Cox (Quinton Wallace kick no good), 7:53
Second quarter
LHS – Jadon Scott 10 pass from Rhett Cox (2 pt. conversation no good), 11:53
LHS – Rhett Cox 49 run (2 pt. conversion no good), 10:38
EC – Safety, fumble punt out of end zone, 1:35
EC – Jordan Howell 7 run (Mario Trejo kick good), 0:21
Third quarter
LHS – Quentin Sanders 8 run (2 pt. conversion good), 5:55
LHS – Johnny Courtney 85 pass from Rhett Cox (2 pt. conversation good), 3:44
Fourth quarter
EC – Jordan Howell 1 run (Mario Trejo kick good), 11:02
LHS – Quentin Sanders 23 run (2 pt. conversation no good), 8:42
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING LHS: Rhett Cox 11-103; Quentin Sanders 20-159; Ka’Mari Davis 5-32. EC: Jordan Howell 14-(-7); Henry Gibbs 7-(-5).
PASSING LHS: Cox 10-16, 157 yards EC: Howell 4-13-1, 47 yards.
RECEIVING LHS: Mikial Fourney 2-19; Johnny Courtney 6-117; EC: Swinton Alonzo 3-50.
RECORDS Lewisville 4-1; Eau Claire 0-5.
This story was originally published September 15, 2017 at 11:47 PM with the headline "Lewisville defense stifles Eau Claire in Lions’ fourth win."