It’s OK. The Firebirds’ defense did the talking for him in the second half against their crosstown rival.
Sam Wiles rushed for 199 yards and two touchdowns, Kenyon Norman ran for 85 yards and two more scores, and fourth-ranked Lakota West held Lakota East in check throughout the final two quarters to claim a 42-24 Greater Miami Conference victory.
“I think it shows our adversity and how hard we’ve worked in the offseason,” said Beerman, a Purdue commit who wrapped up eight tackles. “Obviously in the first half, defensive-wise, it was not what we wanted. We came out here and left 3 points on the board in the second half against a big opponent — really good offense, the best in the GMC — along with our offense.
“It was a great challenge. I think it really showed our fighting spirit.”
Lakota West (8-1, 7-1 GMC) is on a six-game winning streak following its Week 3 loss to Princeton. The Firebirds and the Vikings are tied atop the GMC standings after Friday night’s action.
Lakota East (6-3, 6-2 GMC), which has the best offense in the conference, had its four-game winning streak snapped. Lakota West has now won the last six meetings against Lakota East and leads the series 20-9.
“For the whole game,” Thunderhawks coach Jon Kitna said about the high-tempo play. “I felt like we had a couple calls go against us that could have helped us stay in that game, and unfortunately, they saw what they saw, and you can’t do anything about it. There’s no replay.
“I thought we had a first down on (quarterback JT Kitna’s) run,” Kitna added. “I thought they had a fumble in the first half that we recovered. They called him down. I’ll see what the film says, but I think those are big calls in the game. They didn’t go our way, and the game got away from us late.
“That’s a good football team over there — everybody knows that.”
Lakota West churned up 325 yards rushing out of its 402 total yards of offense.
Finn Mason picked off a JT Kitna pass early in the first quarter, and that set up a Wiles 29-yard touchdown run to give the Firebirds a 7-0 lead.
JT Kitna responded with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Carter Jones to tie it up at 7-7 with 5:54 left in the first quarter. Kitna completed 17 of 27 passes for 270 yards and two touchdowns.
Then on Lakota West’s ensuing possession, Tyson Davis hauled in a 7-yard TD pass from Wiles that gave the Firebirds a 14-7 advantage at the end of the opening period.
Lakota West didn’t relinquish the lead from that point on.
Both teams exchange a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter. Braydon Johnson and Norman each had short TD runs for Lakota West. Kitna connected with Jayden Seay for a touchdown pass, and Ryder Hooks added a rushing score for Lakota East.
“The offseason training, the weightroom and on gameday, it’s just about executing,” said Norman, a sophomore. “It’s about doing our job.”
Wiles added a TD run in the third quarter before Lakota East’s AJ Fitzstephens booted a 23-yard field goal to pull it to within 35-24 with 3:34 left in the third.
The Firebirds closed it out on their final drive.
“Weight room,” Bolden said of his Firebirds’ last offensive possession that slashed over eight minutes off the clock to set up Norman’s shifty 22-yard touchdown run.
Added Bolden, “We’ve got the ball, I said, ‘Guys, this is going to be a weight room drive right here. This is the one where all that time in the offseason, lifting three times during the week, during the season — this is why you pay that price.’
“That’s what I told them, ‘You’ve just got to pin your ears back flat and just get off the ball. Running backs, double skin it, and run behind your pads, and let’s go. Let’s make a statement.’ And boy, that was a good statement. Heck of a statement.”
Lakota West travels to Mason to wrap up the regular season, while Lakota East visits Oak Hills.
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