Lakewood tops Midway, 35-32

by John Lucas | Sep 8, 2018 | Midway

Midway’s Carsse Lucas (9) secures a touchdown reception.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)

A hotly-contested fourth quarter led to Midway’s varsity football team being edged 35-32 on the road by Sampson County rival Lakewood Friday.

“Emotions were all over the place,” said Midway coach Cory Barnes. “We’re up, down. Take a kickoff back and things are going well. And then, well, their fullback over there (Jahdon Smith), he’s a heck of a player. He beat us and Lakewood beat us. That’s just part of the game. We’re up early and we’re back-and-forth and a lot of things go our way. Come the second half, some things don’t go our way and we bounce back. That’s just football.”

Lakewood is coached by Barrett Sloan, the son of legendary former Midway coach Tommy Sloan, whom the Raiders named their stadium for last week. Barrett Sloan is a former Midway quarterback and Triton assistant. Both Barnes and Sloan are in their first seasons as head coaches at their respective schools.

Carson Calcutt was 9-of-18 passing for 72 yards and a touchdown and ran for 13 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries, Deantae Byrd ran for 63 yards on nine carries and Dante Blue ran for 49 yards and two touchdowns on eight carries and returned a kick for a touchdown to lead the Raiders (2-2).

Carsse Lucas had three receptions for 43 yards and a touchdown. Jam Rich ran for eight yards on five carries and had three receptions for 23 yards. Cameron Barefoot had two receptions for six yards.

Midway made several big plays on special teams, recovering a muffed punt, a fumbled kick return and an onside kick and scoring on a kick return.

“When we watch film, we look for little things on special teams,” Barnes said. “As a staff, we thought we could score on a kickoff return and we thought we could get a couple on kickoff recovery. We did those things tonight, but at the end of the night, it just wasn’t enough.”

The Leopards (4-0) were led by senior Jahdon Smith, who ran for 213 yards and four touchdowns on 31 carries.

Midway started off strong, scoring twice before Lakewood’s offense was able to take the field.

The Raiders’ opening drive was extended by recovering a muffed punt return and they capitalized with Calcutt completing a 26-yard touchdown to Lucas.

Lakewood fumbled on the ensuing kickoff and kicker Reese Register recovered for Midway. That led to Blue scoring on a nine-yard run.

Lakewood started the fourth quarter by taking its first lead of the game on a six-yard Smith run followed by Hayden Carter completing to Smith for two, to put the Leopards ahead 22-19.

Midway responded with Blue returning the ensuing kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown.

The teams swapped scores until Christian Logan scored on a nine-yard run to give Lakewood the 35-32 lead after a missed extra point.

On the ensuing drive, Midway needed to convert fourth and 10 on its own 37 yard-line and came up just a yard short, allowing Lakewood to run out the clock.

Midway returns home Friday to face another county rival, Hobbton (2-2).