Defense carries day: Lakeside advances to state quarterfinal third straight year, beats Life Christian 41-14

Much is made about the Lakeside offense, and rightfully so. The Northeast A League champions averaged more than 34 points per game this season.

But in the Eagles’ State 1A first-round game on Friday, defense and special teams carried the day.

While the offense took awhile to get started, the Eagles’ defense created five turnovers and blocked two kicks, leading to another convincing win for the senior-laden squad.

Senior Zach Meharg had one of three Lakeside interceptions, returned the second-half kickoff for a touchdown, and added a 32-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter as the second-seeded Eagles beat 15th-seeded Life Christian Academy 41-14 at Union Stadium.

Brady Nine carried 10 times for 78 yards with a touchdown for Lakeside. Senior quarterback Calvin Mikkelsen completed 8 of 15 passes for 91 yards with a passing and rushing touchdown.

Life Christian quarterback Jabez Boyd completed 23 of 35 passes for 231 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions.

Lakeside will host a quarterfinal next week against Freeman, most likely again at Union Stadium.

“Home away from home,” Lakeside coach Devin Bauer said of the venue. “At least, it has been. Keep it on the north side.”

Lakeside has reached a quarterfinal in the past two seasons – but no further. The Eagles hope to change the trend next week.

“Just one more game. One more game,” Bauer said. “We’ve got to keep preparing. Kids gotta keep working. Coaches gotta keep dialed in and we’ll just take it one game at a time.”

Life Christian led through much of the first quarter before the Eagles’ offense got on track.

“First off, hats off to Life Christian. They came and gave us everything they had,” Bauer said. “They have a heck of a good quarterback. A lot of good athletes. But our kids rallied and found a way; our coaches did a fantastic job. I think our offense is what usually gets the headlines, but our defense has shown out last this whole year, really.”

“We made a lot of adjustments during halftime,” Mikkelsen said. “The kick return to the house was pretty awesome. That got us started and then after that was just defense. Everything started to click finally so that was pretty sweet to see.”

Lakeside forced a three-and-out on the first possession and after a short punt took over at the LCA 39. The drive stalled at the 7, and Noah Shintaffer-Hamilton kicked a 24-yard field goal for an early 3-0 lead.

Life Christian’s Boyd hooked up with Darius Imperial on three receptions to move into Lakeside territory. On third-and-16 from the 17, Boyd scrambled and found Champ Seumalo at the goal line for a touchdown. The extra point was blocked, and LCA led 6-3 early in the second quarter.

After an exchange of turnovers, Lakeside’s Ethan Stueckle forced and recovered a fumble on a screen pass and the Eagles had first-and-goal at the 10. But Lakeside could do nothing with the good fortune, and Shintaffer-Hamilton’s 27-yard field-goal attempt was blocked.

Life Christian tried to go downfield, but Boyd’s pass was overthrown into the arms of Meharg, who returned it to the LCA 32.

“I want to give credit to our D-line. They were pressuring the quarterback and he just did not throw a good ball,” Meharg said. “I just happened to be right there.”

Mikkelsen found Hiro Patterson down the sideline for 18 yards, then hit Luke Pedersen on a cross to the 1 with 32.8 seconds left in the half. It took two attempts, but Mikkelsen plowed in from there. Shintaffer-Hamilton made the extra point and Lakeside led 10-6 at halftime.

Lakeside’s Duke Johnson caught the second-half kick, then handed off to Meharg, who broke to the left sideline and went 89 yards untouched for a touchdown and 17-6 lead that completely changed the momentum.

Meharg said as soon as he received the exchange, he saw daylight.

“I’m just thinking, ‘I need to go in the end zone.’ ” he said. “We needed some momentum in that second half. We did not play as good as I think that we should have in the first half. And once I saw that opening I just went.”

“I think our guys were a little shell-shocked,” Bauer said. “That definitely, you know, it was a sudden change. Big moment. Good to start the second half off right.”

Life Christian went backward, and Boyd’s third-down pass was intercepted by Patterson and returned to the LCA 29. Shintaffer-Hamilton kicked a 35-yard field goal, and the Eagles led 20-6 with 7 minutes left in the third quarter.

Mikkelsen picked off Boyd on the next play at the LCA 23. Three plays later, Mikkelsen hit Pedersen on a slant for an 11-yard touchdown pass and 27-6 lead.

Life Chirstian went for it on fourth-and-long and Oz Melzer broke through the line for a 16-yard sack. Three plays later, Meharg took a pitch to the left, picked up a block and hit the sideline for a 32-yard touchdown run and 34-6 lead with 10 minutes left.

Mikkelsen is ready for whatever comes their way next week.

“All offseason, all summer, all season. We’ve just been thinking about the quarterfinals,” he said. “That’s our milestone that we have to get past next. So yeah, we’re ready for that one.”