Lafayette’s Ben Massey tries to avoid a Chiefland defender on a kickoff return Friday. The Indians held Massey to one catch for minus-1 yard receiving.

MAYO, Fla. — Seven times, the Lafayette Hornets forced Chiefland into a third down in the second half Friday.

Six times the Indians converted.

The seventh? Chiefland scored on fourth-and-goal instead.

Unable to get the Indians off the field, Lafayette dropped its first game of the season with a 37-14 defeat at Dale Walker Field.

“We couldn’t get them off the field to give us a chance to get back in it,” LHS coach Joey Pearson said. 

“It was a rough night for the Hornets.”

Chiefland 37, Lafayette 14

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

It was a long night too with Lafayette (2-1) unable to get into a rhythm offensively and unable to stop the Indians’ rushing attack. Chiefland (3-0) rushed for 314 yards on 59 carries, with Kirk Williams and quarterback Ty Corbin each rushing for at least 90 yards.

Leading 17-6 at halftime, the Indians put together an 11-play drive to open the third quarter that milked nearly six minutes off the clock. Chiefland converted two third downs on the possession and overcame a pair of holding penalties as well. Corbin found Amonte’ Young in the back of the end zone on a third-and-13 to finish off the drive after scrambling around to avoid pressure.

Corbin completed 4-of-6 passes for 76 yards and two touchdowns to go along with 90 yards rushing.

The Indians followed with a 16-play drive that covered 88 yards and lasted more than seven and a half minutes. Chiefland converted its first three third-down chances on the drive, including a 15-yard pass from Corbin to Jalen Rutledge on third-and-12. Corbin later scrambled for 17 yards on a second-and-goal from the 21 that set up a 1-yard Jarrett Jerrels touchdown run on fourth-and-goal, which pushed the lead to 30-6 with 9:20 left.

Jerrels added a 7-yard scoring run seven minutes later.

“They’ve got a good team,” Pearson said. “They’re a physical team and they controlled most everything that went on.”

In between, the Hornets got their second score when Jaxson Beach hit Richy James on an 18-yard touchdown pass and then hooked up again on a two-point conversion.

Beach, though, completed just 6-of-19 passes for 53 yards.

Lafayette’s other scoring drive came midway through the second quarter when Garris Edwards scored from 4 yards out to pull the Hornets within 14-6.

“We couldn’t sustain drives,” Pearson said. “We missed some a few chances.

“But overall, I think Chiefland played well and just beat us tonight.”

The Indians, who had already scored on a 15-yard Corbin run and a 5-yard Corbin pass to Forlepay Jenkins that deflected off the back of LHS linebacker Levi Sutley’s helmet, added a 38-yard Noah Nguyen field goal to lead 17-6 at the half.

Lafayette, which entered averaging 46.5 points and 564 yards per game, couldn’t capitalize on a long Edwards kickoff return that gave it possession at the Chiefland 34 in the first half and also stalled on the final drive of the first half in the red zone and Beach’s field goal try drifted wide left.

“We missed a chance to score there right before the half,” Pearson said. “That would have been huge one if we could have gotten in there.”

The Hornets were limited to just 168 yards of offense. Beach rushed for 64 with Edwards adding 37.

UP NEXT

LHS will look to rebound when it travels to Jefferson County next week. The Hornets beat the Tigers 48-20 a year ago. Jefferson is 1-1 this season with a 50-21 loss to Dixie County and a 34-15 win against Sneads. The Tigers had a bye this week.