GRENADA — Lee Academy found the going tough in a 28-7 loss in their district opener at Kirk Academy Friday night.
It was the final week of a three-game road trip for Lee.
Coach Rick Johnston felt his team had improved from the previous weeks, but it was not enough for the win.
“I definitely saw improvement tonight,” Johnston said. “We’re banged up and we had to call on some more young guys in there and they stepped up and played. I’m pleased with that. I saw a definite improvement.”
A 47-yard pass put the Raiders in position to throw a 19-yard touchdown pass with 8:34 remaining in the first quarter to take a 7-0 lead.
The Colts’ defense kept Kirk in check for much of the first half.
Junior Justice Duraj had a sack for Lee on Kirk’s next drive to end any scoring opportunity.
“Defensively, we did a pretty good job,” Johnston said. “We just didn’t get off the field on third and fourth and long. We just gave up the big play on third and long. We just can’t do that. We have to figure out a way to get off the field. Their best player made a couple plays. We knew what was going on and we just didn’t get it done for some reason.”
Sophomore quarterback William Walker completed a pass to junior Ryan Mooney putting Lee at the Kirk 47-yard-line to give Lee a scoring opportunity in the first half. A 15-yard roughing the passer penalty against the Raiders moved the ball to the 32.
However, Lee turned the ball over on downs at the Kirk 8 with 7:56 remaining in the first half.
Kirk was able to capitalize on its fourth down conversions. The Raiders extended their lead to 14-0 on a 23-yard touchdown pass with 1:34 remaining in the first half.
A Duraj run and 13-yard pass from Walker to junior Walt Bell set up a score. Walker threw a 38-yard touchdown pass on a screen to junior Aidan Byrd with 9.3 seconds remaining in the first half. Sophomore Tanner Fava’s PAT cut the lead to 14-7.
Bell intercepted a pass for the Colts just prior to halftime.
The Raiders pulled away in the second half.
Kirk scored on a 25-yard touchdown pass on the opening drive of the second half to extend the lead to 21-7. That came with 9:02 remaining in the third quarter.
Junior Montavian Artis had a 33-yard run to open the next drive for Lee, but the Colts could not get another first down and were forced to punt.
The Raiders scored on a 53-yard touchdown pass with 5:53 remaining in the fourth quarter to go ahead 28-7.
Trailing 28-7, Lee did show some signs of life on offense.
The Colts attempted a fake punt.
Walker, who is also the punter, threw a pass for more than 30 yards to Byrd to give Lee a first down at the Kirk 37.
Walker completed a 17-yard pass to Fava to get Lee to the Kirk 20, but the Colts turned the ball over on downs.
While the passing game improved from previous weeks, Johnston would like to see more execution.
“We’ve got to catch the ball,” Johnston said. “When it’s in our hands, we’ve got to catch the ball. We’ve got to make those 50-50 plays we’ve got to come down with. We didn’t come down with the majority of those tonight.”
Lee Academy is back at home at 7 p.m. Friday against Oak Hill.
“As coaches tonight, we’ll start watching film and we’ll have a plan come Monday and we’ll come in Monday ready to go to work,” Johnston said. “I thought the attitude was good inside the dressing room. We’ve got a real young team and we’ve got to hold this team together and, hopefully, next week we’ll come out. We eliminated our turnovers tonight and that was a positive. We’ll come out next week and we’ll win all phases of the game and we’ll get a ‘W.’”
