Wait doesn’t stop Lafayette as Lancers whip Marquette

Rockwood district rivals Marquette and Lafayette had to wait an extra day to play their Suburban West Conference game thanks to severe storms Friday night moving the kickoff back a day to Saturday night.

The wait didn’t bother Lafayette and the Lancers were ready to rumble.

Lafayette used a stifling defense, led by three interceptions from corner back Elliott Montgomery and erupted for 25 third quarter points to roll to a lopsided 46-7 victory over the previously unbeaten Mustangs.

“Our defense did a great job tonight,” Lafayette coach Boyd Manne said.”Our kids work really hard in practice and wev’e got some good kids and they believe in our system and they do what we ask them to do and we just gotta keep getting better every week.”

Heading into Saturday night, Lafayette (3-0, 2-0 in Suburban West play) had just allowed two touchdowns in wins over over Eureka and Pattonville.

Lafayette’s defensive success continued against Marquette (2-1, 1-1 in conference) holding the Mustangs to just a first quarter touchdown.

Montgomery was major factor for the Lancers defense. Especially in the first quarter, as he struck for two of his three interceptions.

“We watched a lot of film on them (Marquette) and our coaches prepped us well for the game, so I was just doing what they told me to do,” Montgomery said.

It was a trick play that allowed the host Lancers the chance to score first in the second quarter as wide outs Cole DuPont and Shaquille Holley hooked up on a 31-yard pass to put Lafayette in the red zone. Kevin Root finished off the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run and Lafayette was up 7-0.

Marquette responded with a gadget play of its own. Quarterback Austin Powers flipped a backward pass toward the right sideline to Mitch Carr and Carr heaved the ball down field to Chad Nieder for a 76-yard TD strike tieing the score at 7-7 with 8:07 left before the half.

Lafayette regained the lead late in the second quarter as Deonte Robinson capped off a 12-play, 80-yard drive with a 7-yard scoring run making it 14-7 in the final two minutes of the first half. Robinson had a big night on the ground for Lafayette with 15 carries for 98 yards and two touchdowns.

Marquette quarterback Austin Powers went down with an injury at halftime and the Mustangs offense never got into any groove inthe second half.

Lafayette broke loose in the third quarter with three touchdowns and a pair of safeties to gain a commanding 22-point lead heading to the fourth quarter.

A 55-yard kickoff return by Montgomery set upLafayette’s next score as the Lancers needed just three plays to find the end zone on as Robinson scored his second TD of the night on a 5-yard run for a 21-7 edge.

A safety from Lafayette’s defense made it 23-7 and then with 6:05 left in the third quarter, reserve quarterback Evan Scales called his own number, dashing 54 yards for a touchdown, stretching the lead to 30-7.

On its next possession, Lafayette went to the air for more points as Scales hit Cole DuPont for a 23-yard scoring pass making it 37-7.

Lafayette tacked on a safety with just 26 seconds left in the third quarter and then the Lancers scored to start the fourth quarter on a 15-yard run from Kirk Bradley for a 46-7 cushion with 9:21 to go.

Josh Ripp and Kevin Root led the way for the Lancers defense with 6 tackles and 5 tackles respectively.