QUINCY, Ill. – Roosevelt thrived on a next-man-up mentality Saturday night in a 41-28 win over Quincy in a non-conference road game.
The Lakers (2-0) kept the athletic trainers busy in the first quarter as both starting quarterback Tony Chahino and starting center Max Lingenfelser went down with injuries. Yet that didn't stop Roosevelt from racking up a school-record 590 yards of total offense and putting up 40 points for the second consecutive week.
Before exiting the contest, Chahino led the Lakers on a pair of scoring drives to open up the game. He completed seven of his nine passes and ran for a touchdown from a yard out on a third-down keeper. Tyvon Boddie ripped off a 39-yard touchdown run on Roosevelt's first possession and finished the day with 111 yards on 19 carries.
Carl Bew and Justin Bland both saw snaps at quarterback in Chahino's absence and both were highly efficient while throwing for a touchdown apiece. Bland's touchdown was a 32-yard bomb to DJ Simmons Jr. late in the first half and Bew threw a fourth-down touchdown to Dashaun Gage Jr. to ice the game in the fourth quarter.
Simmons was the Lakers' leading receiver with six catches for 116 yards and his score, but he was far from the only new receiver to have a big game. Javonte McCoy caught nine passes for 89 yards, utilizing his speed on several screen passes as well as a pair of deep balls down the sideline. Roosevelt's quarterbacks combined to throw for 371 yards in the victory.
After taking a 21-14 lead into halftime, the Lakers turned up the heat on defense in the second half to help increase the lead. Sean Sample knocked home a field goal to capitalize on a Corey Webb interception. After a three-and-out from the Hawks, Bew finished off an eight-play, 72-yard drive himself with a four-yard rushing score.
Sample made a second field goal to give the Lakers a 34-21 lead with five minutes left, but Quincy made things interesting with a touchdown. Bew then led the Lakers down the field until the drive seemingly stalled just outside field goal range. After the two-minute timeout, Bew tried to draw the Hawks offsides and when they jumped, he snapped the ball and threw a rainbow into Gage's arms for the game-sealing score.
The Lakers defense again won the turnover battle with two takeaways while Roosevelt had no turnovers. The unit's biggest takeaway came after the Gage touchdown when Roosevelt swarmed the Quincy quarterback and forced a fumble to end the game. Roosevelt held Quincy to less than 300 yards of total offense in the game while controlling the ball for more than 37 minutes.
CJ Ameachi had two sacks and forced the fumble to end the game among his five tackles. Derek Whaley and Brandon Harvey tied for the team lead with eight stops each.
UP NEXT: Roosevelt hits the road again next week when it travels to Bolivar, Missouri to face Southwest Baptist in a rematch of last year's thrilling game at Morris Field.
