HARTLAND — Lakeside Lutheran senior running back Kaycee Guzman had 207 rushing yards and three touchdowns in the Warriors’ 28-20 nonconference road win over Lake Country Lutheran on Friday.
“Every win is precious, especially in football with only nine games,” Lakeside head coach Matt Doering said of his postgame message. “We practiced better last week and this was a little bit a result of that. Our guys did some nice things as a group.
“Starting quarterback Ben Krauklis didn’t play. With a new sophomore QB in Jack Thiele, we wanted to focus on the core plays and trying to run them really well. Our guys executed and we worked a little inside outside. It was a good complement in that it wasn’t all inside or all outside. Guys made some plays too. Our speed kicked in on some outside runs. On the big gainers, guys got the edge.”
Guzman, who carried it 18 times and averaged 11.5 yards per carry, opened the scoring with a 7-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and added a 9-yard score in the second quarter. Sophomore Mathias Schmidt converted both extra points for the halftime margin of 14-0.
Lake Country got within 14-6 on a 2-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, before sophomore quarterback Jack Thiele found paydirt on a 3-yard rush to restore Lakeside’s double-digit lead at 21-6.
LCL got within 21-14 early in the fourth quarter on Jackson Menzel’s 8-yard run, followed by Nathan Graf’s successful two-point conversion rush.
Guzman then accounted for easily the longest play of the game, springing free for a 61-yard touchdown and Schmidt’s point after made it 28-14.
“Kaycee got to the outside and made one little move,” Doering said. “We had good perimeter blocking all night. Kaycee is not necessarily known as the fast one in the backfield, but he’s not slow and when he got going hit another gear. That was a clutch play in terms of the game situation as well.”
Graf concluded the scoring with a 2-yard touchdown before the Warriors took over at roughly the five-minute mark and exhausted the clock.
Lakeside (1-1) did not throw a pass, instead churning out 321 yards on 42 attempts, tallying 7.64 yards per tote. Senior running back Issiah Sampson contributed 78 rushing yards on 13 attempts and Thiele ran it 11 times for 36 yards.
“Jack settled in and you could tell there were nerves early,” Doering said. “Then they got a drive under their belt, he got a chance to talk to our coaches, made reads and did what he needed to do. Jack trusted the guys around him, which is exactly what we hoped he would do. Taking care of the ball was key.”
For LCL (0-2), Menzel finished 10-for-15 passing for 94 yards and led the team with 80 rushing yards on 10 attempts.
Four Warriors — senior linebackers Ryan Schultz and Jonathan Schmidt, junior defensive back Owen Marty and senior defensive back RJ Darden — made five tackles apiece with two of Schultz’s stops resulting in a loss.
“The biggest thing defensively is we limited big plays,” Doering said. “Lake Country had to work on every single drive. Statistically with high school teams, if you can make them march it’s tough. We had really great kick coverage early and put them on long fields. However, on their two scoring drives in the second half they returned it to near midfield, right in four-down territory out of the gate.
“Senior Alex Baehr had a great night on both sides of the ball at center and defensive end. His effort and physicality set the tone for us.”
Lakeside hosts Port Washington (1-1) next Friday.
LAKESIDE 28, LAKE COUNTRY 20
Lakeside 7 7 7 7 — 28
Lake Country 0 0 6 14 — 20
First quarter
LL — Guzman 7 run (M. Schmidt kick)
Second quarter
LL — Guzman 9 run (M. Schmidt kick)
Third quarter
LCL — 2 run (conversion failed)
LL — Thiele 3 run (M. Schmidt kick)
Fourth quarter
LCL — Menzel 8 run (Graf run)
LL — Guzman 61 run (M. Schmidt kick)
LCL — Graf 2 run (conversion failed)
Team statistics
Total plays: LL 45, LCL 49; Total yards: LL 321, LCL 230; Passing yards: LL 0, LCL 94; Rushing yards: LL 321, LCL 136; First downs: LL 13, LCL 12; Fumbles lost: LL 0, LCL 0; Interceptions thrown: LL 0, LCL 0; Penalties-yards: LL 2-8, LCL 3-20.
Local News
Comments / 0