Lakewood’s poise is key in opener vs. Boca Ciega

GULFPORT — After two big fourth-quarter special teams plays — punts blocked by junior Frederico Freeman and senior Anthony Alexander that were turned into touchdowns by seniors Demontae Gifford and Amarian Raymond — Boca Ciega was within two points of accomplishing something it hadn’t done in 14 years: beating Lakewood.

Momentum was clearly on the host Pirates’ side with six minutes left in the game, but a physical, athletic Spartans squad shook off the misfortune and closed the game with discipline and strength. Behind the powerful running of junior Montravious Lloyd, the in-the-moment play of kick returner Lutarus Adams and a brick wall of a defense, Lakewood emerged with its 11th straight victory over Bogie, 27-12 on Thursday night.

“The big thing is the guys stayed poised when adversity came and that’s good,” Lakewood coach Cory Moore said. “We were able to experience things like (the punt blocks) on top of a win, something we’ll be able to build off of going forward.”

To say Boca Ciega was opportunistic would be an understatement. Senior Victorio Thompson and junior tri-captain Bryce Downs crushed Spartan drives with interceptions while senior Carey Wilson made Adams pay on an ill-advised punt play by pouncing on a fumble at midfield midway through the third quarter.

However, thanks to a brutal defensive effort from Lakewood, the Pirates could only manage 154 yards of offensive output while suffering two crushing turnovers of their own. With possessions deep in Lakewood territory, Spartan junior Isaiah Nixon and sophomore Jeremy Willoughby mustered takeaways to help shut out the Bogie attack.

After his misjudgment, Adams found redemption. On the kickoff after Bogie narrowed the gap to 14-12, the senior shook off three bone-jarring hits en route to a 54-yard return to the Pirate 35-yard-line.

“Lutarus showed poise and growth by not tanking it in (after the fumble),” Moore said. “He shook back and ended up making a great play. Kudos to him for doing a great job.”

Lloyd stepped up on the next play. Doggedly trudging up the middle, Bogie defenders swiping at the ball relentlessly, Lloyd broke loose and sprinted the distance to reset Lakewood’s lead to eight just 23 seconds after the Pirates closed to within two.

“It didn’t matter what they were going to do, I’m going to do whatever I have to do to get into that end zone,” said Lloyd, who landed in the promised land four times (with additional runs of 25, 4 and 5 yards to the house) for the Spartans as part of his 16-carry, 123-yard night.

“One of Montravious’ superpowers is that he’s super competitive,” Moore said. “He gets better throughout the game, he has great character and he’s going to be a guy that’s going to really be electric for us.”

Tack on strong performances from former Clearwater Central Catholic quarterback Anthony Colandrea (177 offensive yards) and Alabama-bound athlete Amari Niblack (seven catches for 84 yards), and Lakewood appears poised for a promising season.

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“What I saw (Thursday) was a lot of individuals competing together,” Moore said. “It was great, and we got a lot of data on what to work on to fine tune that engine.”