Chieftains blanked
Published 12:06 pm Monday, September 26, 2005
By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
For the second straight week the Dowagiac offense disappeared as the Chieftains dropped a 21-0 decision to visiting Lakeshore in the Big 16 Conference West Division opener for both schools.
Friday night at Chris Taylor-Alumni Field also marked what could be the final regular season meeting between the two schools as Dowagiac moves to the Wolverine Conference next season.
After playing a stellar first half defensively against the Lancers, Dowagiac had trouble stopping the Lancers in the final 24 minutes.
Lakeshore scored on its opening possession of the second half, which all but put the Chieftains away.
While its defense played well enough to keep it in the game, Dowagiac's offense was nearly non-existent gaining just 64 yards on the ground and finishing with 131 yards in total offense.# Only twice did the Chieftains cross midfield into Lancer territory.
Dowagiac (3-2, 0-1), which scored 117 points in its first three games, has now been shut out in back-to-back contests.
For the No. 3 ranked (Division 3) Lancers (5-0, 1-0) it was the first shut out of the season.
The win was also Lakeshore's fifth consecutive over the Chieftains. According to Dock, any win over Dowagiac is something to treasure.
Every win is great at this place," he said "This is a hard place to win at. We've come over here and played lousy and kept teams in games. We showed signs of that in the first half. Unfortunately, I had a few flashbacks."
Lakeshore opened the scoring when Corey O'Neal found paydirt on a four-yard run in the first quarter and Mike Hendrix converted on the extra point kick.
The Lancers probably should have had more, but quarterback Shane Tierney fumbled the football on another Lakeshore drive which was recovered by Dowagiac's Mike Laylin.
After Dowagiac failed to move the football to start the second half, Lakeshore took control of the game as it marched down the field and scored on another four-yard run by O'Neal.
Lakeshore took just eight plays to cover the 78 yards to increase its advantage to 14-0.
The Lancers completed the scoring in the fourth quarter when Tierney, who finished the night going 14-of-22 for 206 yards, ran it in from 18-yards out.
Tierney finished with 50 yards rushing.
The Chieftains head back to the road Friday night as they face Sturgis, which knocked off No. 3 Marshall (Division 4) this past Friday. Dowagiac was a 37-0 loser at the hands of Marshall at week ago.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
Lakeshore 7 0 7 7 - 21
Dowagiac 0 0 0 0 - 0
L – Corey O'Neal 4 run (Mike Hendrix kick)
L – O'Neal 4 run (Hendrix kick)
L – Shaine Tierney 18 run (Hendrix kick)