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Lake Park can't get going at DeKalb

DEKALB - Lake Park fell victim to a 21-0 shutout in its season opener Friday night against DeKalb.

Senior running back Jalon Redmond saw most touches for DeKalb, finishing with 130 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns.

Lake Park coach Chris Roll said his young team struggled to adapt the pace of the game.

"On both sides of the ball we started very slow," Roll said. "We have a lot of young guys and new guys on the field. We had some really good weeks of practice at the end of the summer, but I think they need to understand how fast varsity football is."

The Barbs rushing attack put the Lancers down early. Redmond scored a 6-yard touchdown to give DeKalb the 7-0 edge.

DeKalb junior linebacker Michael Clayton's interception on the Lancers' next drive led to sophomore running back Toriano Tate, in his only rush for the game, capitalizing with a 16-yard touchdown to make it 14-0 to end the first quarter.

The Lancers opened the second quarter with a 33-yard run by senior running back Jordan Colon, putting Lake Park in Barbs' territory.

Four plays later, even with the help of an offsides penalty, Lake Park turned the ball over on downs.

Lake Park's defense kept DeKalb out of the end zone in the second quarter. Sophomore defensive lineman Cooper Cerese picked up a sack before the halftime break.

DeKalb received the ball to start the second half and a 5-yard Redmond touchdown extended the Barbs' lead to 21-0.

Lake Park saw its best opportunity to score come early in the fourth quarter with a third-and-goal from DeKalb's 1-yard line. The Barbs tackled Colon for a 10-yard loss followed by an incompletion that resulted in a turnover on downs.

Roll said seeing improvement over the next week will be telling if the Lancers can meet their goal of contending for a playoff spot.

"Defensively at the start of both halves, they had drives where they kind of went up and down the field on us, but we adjusted," Roll said. "We just need to work out a lot of little things before next week. The second week of football is the most important to improving."

Lake Park will host its home opener next Friday against Metea Valley. DeKalb will play rival Sycamore at Huskie Stadium in DeKalb.

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