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Lake Central throttles Portage in DAC opener
Updated: September 3, 2011 6:06PM
ST. JOHN — Even the woodshed Lake Central took Portage to is still feeling the pain.
Ouch.
The blue Indians (3-0, 1-0) opened up Duneland Athletic Conference play Friday night in dominating fashion — spotting Portage an early 7-0 lead before scoring 62 unanswered points — with a 62-7 win over the red Indians (0-3, 0-1) at the Burial Grounds.
Junior quarterback David Yancey rushed for 148 yards on eight carries and scored two touchdowns — he had 144 on six carries in the first half alone — and threw an 11-yard TD pass to Dylan Morang for another score to lead Lake Central’s potent offensive attack.
Lake Central amassed 370 yards in total offense in the first half — 348 of those yards were on the ground — on their way to building a 42-7 halftime lead.
Fullback Riley Arvanitis rushed for 138 yards on six carries, including a 45-yard TD run in the second quarter when LC exploded for 28 points.
Arvanitis also had a 76-yard run to set up Yancey’s TD pass to Morang.
“It was all our offensive line,’’ Yancey said. “You could drive two semi-trucks through the holes they opened. The holes were just monstrous. Our defense came up monstrous, too. Those guys are my brothers. They’re hard-flying, hard-working, strong and big.’’
The blue Indians’ defense definitely came up big, too.
After watching Portage’s Austin Garrett intercept a pass by Yancey — he picked the LC quarterback off twice — and race 35 yards for a TD to give the red Indians a 7-0 lead, LC’s defense was menacing.
Senior linebacker Tyler Szczecina intercepted two passes and took them back for scores. The first was a 47-yarder in the first quarter on a pass by Portage starting quarterback, Kris Knies. The second time, he rumbled 25 yards on a toss by Gage Pearman.
Lake Central sophomore linebacker Gelen Robinson scored on a five-yard return of a blocked punt in the third period.
“We’re just trying to become a good football team — that’s all we’re trying to do,’’ LC coach Brett St. Germain said. “I really like our group of players. I think we’re coming together as a team. Anytime you come into a conference game, you don’t expect this to happen. We’re just working hard and trying to get better right now.
“Whatever people want to call it, that’s up to them.’’
Portage coach Jeromy Flowers didn’t duck postgame questions even after watching his team absorb a major pounding.
“All I really have to say is that I have to apologize to the town of Portage, because I’m really embarrassed by this,’’ he said. “I apologize to all of our fans. That’s not how we play football. Portage is a lot better than this and we’ll get it figured out.
“They executed and we didn’t. They’re an excellent team. They’re just flat-out better than we are. They obviously also had a better plan than we did.’’
Chase Fieldhouse rushed for 85 yards for LC, including a 57-yard TD on the team’s second play from scrimmage. He also had an interception.
Lake Central is 3-0 for the first time since 2007 when it finished 7-5 under Bill Melby.
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