The Lake Oconee Academy football team defeated Augusta Prep Day 42-18 at home last Friday for the Titans’ third consecutive win.
With the victory, head coach Patrick Stewart’s team now has the most wins in a single season since the program started three years ago.
Stewart told the Lake Oconee News that his players executed the game plan well, and he was able to get a lot of guys on the bench some valuable varsity experience.
“We executed our game plan really well,” Stewart said. “The best thing about this past game was that we were able to get all of our junior varsity guys a lot of live reps to coach off of in meetings and get those guys ready for next year.”
Lake Oconee Academy didn’t start the game off the way it would have liked to.
The Titans gave up a safety on their first drive, giving the Cavaliers a 2-0 lead to begin the first quarter; however, the defense immediately responded and forced an Augusta Prep turnover inside its own red zone. A few plays later, Hayes Fleming found the end zone to put the Titans up 7-2 after a successful Knox Van Mol extra-point attempt.
The junior ended his night with 70 total yards and three rushing touchdowns on eight carries, and Stewart acknowledged how much he means to the team after growing into his role.
“Fleming has grown a lot since the start of the season. He has the talent, but he needed to realize that effort will take him to the next level of play that we need him to perform at,” Stewart said. “He had a huge wake-up call in week two during a film session with me of the previous game and after that, we saw a total difference. Ever since that meeting, he has given his all every day and more. Fleming is an outstanding team player, he pushes others, is passionate about this game, is always reliable, and is able to take hard coaching. He will be talked about a lot going into these next two games and his senior year.”
From there, it was all Lake Oconee Academy.
The Titans went on to score 35 unanswered points to make the score 35-2 at halftime. Quarterback Ike O’Neal was also able to get things going through the air, given the Cavaliers' focus on the run game.
O’Neal finished the contest by completing 6-of-9 passes for 164 yards with a passing touchdown. Stewart noticed the offense would be able to be more balanced due to its success on the ground.
“Like every week, our running game is our priority and has been strong the past few weeks,” Stewart said. “We knew from scouting Augusta Prep Day that they would load the box. We gave Ike the autonomy to make his own checks and not to be hesitant on airing it out.”
After freshman Kam Geter found the end zone midway through the third quarter to put the Titans up 42-2, Stewart was able to get some of the younger guys in who hadn’t seen much varsity play up to this point.
Lake Oconee Academy has two more games left in the regular season and hopes to end things on a positive note.