LAVACA — Lavaca kept Charleston tailback Ryan McDonald bottled up for a half. McDonald ran wild in the second half.
McDonald ran for 184 yards and three touchdowns to lift Class 3A’s third-ranked Tigers to a 48-20 victory Friday at Hobbs Memorial Stadium.
McDonald was held to 36 yards in the first half as Lavaca kept the game in reach, trailing 22-14 at halftime.
The Golden Arrows (2-6, 2-3 4-3A Conference) had a chance to put more pressure on the Tigers (7-1, 5-0) after recovering a fumble on the second-half kickoff return at Charleston’s 33. But Charleston held on three running plays, and Hector Lira’s 45-yard field goal was wide right.
McDonald then ran all but one play on a 10-play, 80-yard drive, scoring on a 2-yard run to push the lead to 30-14 and swing momentum to Charleston.
“It was big after the fumble when we got the stop and kept them from putting points on the board,” Charleston Coach Doug Loughridge said. “They were about to make it a tie ballgame. That was big to make the stop and then go down and score.”
Lavaca Coach Mark Headley agreed the missed opportunity was the turning point.
“We needed a break coming out,” he said. “We knew that first drive with them on offense was important and we got the fumble. We couldn’t capitalize on it.”
After the fumble, the Tigers scored on the restof their second-half possessions.
Lavaca’s next possession after McDonald’s touchdown ended in an interception. McDonald ran 35 and 20 yards before Dustin Shelby snuck in from the 1 for a 38-14 lead with 2:22 left in the third quarter.
McDonald added an 11-yard touchdown with 10:48 left to extend the lead to 45-14.
After a 3-yard touchdown by Lavaca’s Justin Lewelling, Charleston’s Zach White kicked a 22-yard field goal with 1:21 remaining.
Shelby and White connected on a 20-yard pass with 8:15 left in the first quarter to give the Tigers a 6-0 lead.
Lavaca answered on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Josh Brown to Tyler Teague.
Charleston took the lead for good on an 18-yard touchdown pass from Shelby to Seth McCann with 1:47 left in the first quarter.
The Tigers held near midfield on fourth down, leading to a 5-yard run by McDonald for a 22-6 lead with seven minutes left in the first half.
The Golden Arrows drove 78 yards to get within 22-14 at halftime on Dalton Overbey’s 7-yard run.
Charleston was held to 52 yards rushing in the first half, but finished with 280 on the ground and 430 yards total offense.
“We came out and said we’re just going to come at you,” Loughridge said of the halftime discussion. “Offense bailed us out all night long. Finally we came out in the second half and played better defense and got some run control.”
Lavaca had 239 yards offense, including 195 on the ground.
Sports, Pages 23 on 10/23/2010