By the time Lake Oconee Academy finally took the field last Friday night, the Titans had already spent nearly two hours waiting out Mother Nature.
Thunderstorms pushed kickoff against Mount Pisgah back until 9 p.m., testing LOA’s patience before it could officially begin the 2026 season.
Once the weather cleared, however, the Titans wasted little time making up for the wait.
LOA (1-0) scored early and never looked back, rolling to a 33-0 shutout of the Patriots (0-1) in the season opener.
LOA head coach Patrick Stewart said keeping his players mentally engaged during the lengthy delay was just as important as preparing them for the game itself.
“I’m really proud of the guys, and it was a great win,” Stewart said. “They needed that win, and I think it gave our guys some confidence in what we do and all of their hard work.”
Stewart and his staff used the delay to keep the team focused, holding offensive and defensive meetings while doing their best to maintain the energy needed for the season opener.
“With weather delays, we try to do our best and have offensive and defensive meetings and keep them engaged as much as possible,” Stewart said. “That helped them, and they were definitely ready to go out, and our crowd stayed around as well.”
Once the Titans finally took the field, senior running back and linebacker Griffin Stanford gave the home crowd plenty to cheer about.
Stanford accounted for four of LOA’s five touchdowns, scoring twice on the ground and hauling in two touchdown passes. The performance showcased his expanded role on offense after spending much of his career as one of the Titans’ defensive leaders.
“Throughout his whole career, he’s been our go-to Mike linebacker, but now he’s helping us a ton on offense this year,” Stewart said of Stanford. “With him helping us out on offense, he has speed, he can catch, he does a lot of things for us.”
Junior quarterback Jake McDonald helped provide balance, completing 9 of 14 passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. Junior running back Alden Barreras added the first touchdown of the night on an 8-yard run and finished with 81 yards on 10 carries.
“With Jake McDonald throwing for 118, I think he was solid,” Stewart said. “He was really spinning it. I mean, it was really a balanced attack. Then defensively, you know, a shutout is huge.”
The Titans’ defense was equally impressive, keeping Mount Pisgah off the scoreboard from start to finish.
Senior defensive lineman Logan Davis was particularly disruptive, recording two sacks, five tackles and three tackles for loss.
The shutout provided an early payoff for the work LOA put in during the preseason. The Titans faced physical competition in each of their two scrimmages, something Stewart believes helped prepare them for Friday’s opener.
“With the past two scrimmages, we played really good physical teams, and we use those as motivation,” Stewart said. “This is a new team and a new year, so this is the first real game to really set the tone for the year.”
Now, the Titans will turn their attention to a new challenge.
LOA will hit the road this week to face Greeneville High School, a team the Titans have never played. Stewart expects the unfamiliar opponent and road environment to provide a different test following Friday’s dominant performance.
“There’s always things we can improve on, and we really need to focus on little things,” Stewart said. “We had a fumble and some penalties that we’d like to clean up and try to eliminate this week.”
Stewart said the Titans will also have to account for Greeneville’s quarterback, who poses a significant threat as a runner.
“From the film we have, their quarterback is run-heavy and is their guy,” Stewart said. “We have some goals set out to hold them to under 50 yards rushing, and offensively to try to score more than we did against Mount Pisgah and keep that up.”