Last Friday, the gates opened up at Lafayette and the crowds began pouring in.

Starting off on the right foot, senior quarterback Cameron Scales located senior Brian Boyd in the end zone with a touchdown pass. The Lancers got a quick six, but they couldn’t convert the extra point.

Before the conclusion of the second quarter, Eureka fired back and scored their first touchdown. Defense was the name of the game, as the score was practically gridlocked at 7-6 when the second quarter concluded.

Opening up the 3rd, the Wildcats channeled an offensive surge, garnering a 17-6 lead. Lafayette quickly countered, rallying back to make the score 17-15, as the Lancers got back into striking range.

Presented with an opportunity to convert a 2 point conversion, Scales was charged with the task of completing the conversion. He came up just inches short and the Lancers coughed the ball up with just moments left.

The final was 17-15.

Despite the numerous opportunities each team had, at the end of the day, the game came down to a single play that didn’t fall into their favor. The loss might be heartbreaking, but it’s the nature of sport; and at this point, they just need to move ahead and learn from the past. Fortunately, the locker room appears to be adhering to that.

Junior Brendan Scales said “We are learning from our mental mistakes and working on working together as a team this week as much as possible. Games like this make us tougher, but it also shows us what we can do to improve, and that this week we worked towards not letting those 2 points shut down our whole season.”

Their next game is this upcoming Saturday against Hazelwood Central at 1 p.m.The attitude this week is going to be increasingly competitive.

Scales said, “Our mentality this week is to outwork them. Not taking any plays off and leaving it all on the field. We need to work as a team to reach our full potential, and focus on not having mental mistakes like we did against Eureka.”

With everything to gain and nothing to lose, their confidence will be, and already is,  through the roof on Saturday afternoon.

“We’re a tight family and our goal this week is to outwork and out effort Central. And I believe we will.”