Lafayette rebounds against the Hazelwood East Spartans after their opening day loss against Timberland with a 38-6 win. They improve their record to 1-1 with the win.

Hazelwood East struggled to score for most of the game, as their straightforward running style was easy for Lafayette to lock down. They rushed for 93 yards, most of which did not lead to touchdowns. Lafayette had a much easier time scoring; the Hazelwood East punting allowed for Lafayette to get the ball up by the Hazelwood East 13 and 15 yard lines with a poor punt and a muffed punt respectively. Both punts led to Ryan O’Connell touchdown passes.

“Coach Manne told us to come out at the start of the game that we had to go really fast and that we had to stay fast the entire game, and that’s just what we did. We never took our foot off the pedal,” O’Connell said immediately after the game.

The special teams was much improved from last game, as they made defensive plays with the aforementioned muffed punt, scored a two point conversion. There were also less turnovers for the Lafayette offense and special teams and more turnovers forced by the Lancer defense compared to the previous game against Timberland.

The Lancers next game is an emotionally fueled match against Kirkwood. The Pioneers have beaten Lafayette the last five times, and have knocked Lafayette out of the playoffs for last two years. The Lancers last win against Kirkwood came back in Sept. 19, 2008. Kirkwood is also 1-1, with their loss being against a tough Chaminade team.

The game against Kirkwood is Sept. 4 at Kirkwood at 7 p.m.