Two halves told two different stories Friday night in Florence.
Lloyd Memorial outscored Boone County 38-0 in the second half for the 45-7 win, their first of the season.
With a 7-7 stalemate at halftime, the Juggernauts came out of the break a different squad. Boone County never entered the red zone the rest of the night.
“We had two guys on defense that I don’t think we were utilizing very well in the first half,” Lloyd coach Kyle Niederman said. “We started utilizing them more effectively in the second half and kind of shut the run game down, forcing them to throw the ball and we ended up getting a couple three-and-outs.”
Offensively, five different players found their way into the endzone in the second 24 minutes.
Yurii Collins-Comer and Isaiah Sebastian each had two rushing touchdowns, one from nine yards away and the other 33-yards away for Collins-Comer.
Sebastian’s came from a 19-yard shifty run and then a four-yard rush just below five minutes left in the contest.
Tyler Copeland also had a nine-yard rushing touchdown and Kaleb Evans picked up his second passing touchdown after he found Elijah Collins for six points in the third quarter.
As time marched on, as Boone County slowed down Lloyd sped up.
“Lloyd has athletes, big and strong players all over the field,” Rebel head coach Dan Courts said. “We battled in the first half, but we have to do a better job coming out of the locker room. We just got tired. We need to get in better shape and get more guys involved.”
Rebels quarterback Peyton Storer threw for 75 yards, but also had three interceptions, one of those to Isaiah Sebastian, who tends to make his presence known all over the field.
While causing a significant turnover and having two rushing touchdowns, he contributed 58 rushing yards and 55 receiving yards.
“I put the work outside of the game and I felt like it showed,” Sebastian said. “Every time I get the ball or don’t get the ball, I try to make an effort, no matter what, on both sides.”
The Juggs as a team ran for 177 yards led by Collins-Comer with 76 of those and Kaleb Evans arm became factor. With his two touchdown passes, he added 186 yards.
It wasn’t just one or two players that had those yards either. Evans found eight receivers throughout the game.
“We want to distribute the ball equally amongst the guys. That makes it hard to defend,” Niederman said. “We did a lot better job in the second half of doing that. It’s no doubt an advantage. We have a lot of skill.”
It wasn’t just Lloyd’s first victory of the season, it was a momentum booster as well.
“I’m going to give Boone County full credit tonight,” Niederman said. “They did a good job and they played hard, so this helps no doubt. You get the win and see the smiles on their faces. Now it’s just a matter of keep that ‘why did we win.'”
Boone County opened up with a 41-0 win over Holmes in the firs week and experienced the other end of it against the Juggernauts, but the young season is far from over.
“There’s a lot of positives to take from this,” Courts said. “We’re going to get better next week. All we want to do is get better. Even if the scoreboard didn’t show it tonight, we did.”
The Rebels (1-1) head to Newport next for a meeting with the 2-0 Wildcats. Lloyd Memorial (1-1) will stay on the road for a third straight week as they go to Covington to take on Holmes next.
More photos from Friday night’s game below provided by Charles Bolton.
JUGGERNAUTS 45, REBELS 7
BOONE COUNTY — 0-7-0-0 — 7
LLOYD MEMORIAL — 7-0-18-20 — 45
Scoring Plays
1st Quarter
(LM) Evans 17-yard pass to Copeland (6:39) Miller kick
2nd Quarter
(BC) Jackson 5-yard run (11:09) Daugherty kick
3rd Quarter
(LM) Sebastian 19-yard run (9:10) Miller kick failed
(LM) Collins-Comer 33-yard run (7:09) Evans pass failed
(LM) Evans 4-yard pass to Collins (3:57) Miller kick failed
4th Quarter
(LM) Collins-Comer 9-yard run (11:27) Miller kick
(LM) Copeland 9-yard run (10:25) Miller kick
(LM) Sebastian 4-yard run (4:26) Miller kick failed
Game Stats
Passing Yards: Boone County 86 (Storer 4/16, LeGrand 2/2), Lloyd Memorial 186 (Evans 17/24)
Rushing Yards: Boone County 99 (Johnson 15-46, Jackson 11-36, Hodges 2-9, Butsch 1-6, LeGrand 2-1, Storer 5-(minus)9), Lloyd Memorial 177 (Collins-Comer 7-76, Sebastian 6-58, Copeland 3-43)
Receiving: Boone County (Turney 2-54, Padilla 1-17, Jackson 2-15), Lloyd Memorial (Sebastian 2-55, Collins 4-39, Collins-Comer 5-22, Copeland 1-17, Barger 2-15, Davita 1-15, Griffin 1-12, Lewis 1-11)
Turnovers: Boone County 4, Lloyd Memorial 0
Penalties: Boone County 3-20, Lloyd Memorial 6-50
Records: Boone County 1-1, Lloyd Memorial 1-1