The Lakeside Jr. High Gators defeated the Orange Park Junior High Wildcats in a close 14-12 victory at Ridgeview High School on Tuesday night.
It took a while for both teams to get settled in, as penalties piled up for both teams on their opening drives. It was a back and forth defensive battle in the first quarter with neither team giving up a point.
A first down pick up on 4th & 6 early in the second quarter would prove to be the spark that Lakeside needed. Quarterback Cibastian Broughton began to break out with a couple runs to put Lakeside deep in Wildcat territory. Cibastian Broughton would call his own number on first and goal and run it in himself to give Lakeside a touchdown and a 6-0 lead with 4:34 remaining in the half.
The Wildcats would answer back with a drive of their own. A big pass interference on 3rd and 15 would put the Wildcats in the redzone and a run around the edge would tie the game 6-6 at the half.
The Wildcats received the second half kickoff and came out swinging. Heavy on the run, and controlling the clock, Orange Park would put together a time consuming five minute drive and take a 12-6 lead on a score.
Lakeside would respond with a nice drive but a costly fumble would put a halt to it. Orange Park Jr. High would control the rest of the third quarter and head into the 4th clinging to a six point lead. However, quarterback Cibastian Broughton of Lakeside would put his stamp on this game and take it over.
He turned into a one man show using his legs to scramble and extend plays as he ran it in for a touchdown, and the go ahead two point conversion to put his team ahead 14-12 with 4:22 remaining in the game.
A couple of critical personal foul penalties on the ensuing kickoff would back the Wildcats up to their own two yard line. The Lakeside defense would tighten down and stuff the Wildcats runs on first and second down. A big run on third down would give the Wildcats a manageable 4th & 5, but the pass would fall incomplete with 1:58 remaining in the game.
With two timeouts remaining, the Wildcat defense would need to come up with a stop to give their offense one more chance at a win but Cibastian Broughton would pick up two first downs on key runs to ice the game and preserve the 14-12 lead and win for his team.
Lakeside is now 2-0 after not winning a game the last three years. Orange Park Jr. High will fall to 0-1.
