MANSFIELD -- Lamar senior Dusty Wilkins did it all early for the Warriors on Friday night at Tiger Stadium.
Wilkins scored two of the first three touchdowns to help Lamar jump in front and the Warriors never looked back in a 50-20 victory against Mansfield in a 4-3A conference game.
"[Wilkins] is an outstanding player and hasn't broken out this season until tonight," Lamar Coach Josh Jones. "It has been kind of expected for him, but other guys have been stepping up. This game will give him a lot of confidence going forward."
Lamar (5-0, 2-0) jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter with Wilkins scoring on special teams, then later on offense.
Wilkins returned a fumbled Mansfield (1-4, 0-2) punt 29 yards for a touchdown to give the Warriors a 7-0 lead with 10:04 left in the first quarter.
Lamar quarterback Hunter Davenport found Austin Hency for a 60-yard touchdown pass after that to extend the lead to 14-0 with 5:50 left in the first quarter.
Wilkins then found the end zone offensively, scoring on a 10-yard rush to push the lead to 21-0 with 1:10 left in the first quarter.
Wilkins had 113 yards rushing on 8 carries with 2 touchdowns, recovered the fumbled punt for a touchdown and had a 45-yard interception return all in the first half.
"They are a well-coached team with a lot of talent," Mansfield Coach Brandon Elmore said. "They pretty much could do whatever they wanted offensively. They are hard to stop. We tried to run a power-run set to try to slow them down. It didn't work."
The Lamar offense didn't let up in the second quarter, pushing the lead to 42-0 heading into halftime.
The Warriors scored on their first six possessions of the first half to build their lead. Lamar outgained Mansfield 296 to 21 in the first two quarters.
Davenport was 4 for 4 passing for 112 yards with 2 touchdowns for the Warriors. Senior wide receiver Blake Kern finished with three catches for 52 yards and a touchdown.
"Our kids really came out to play," Jones said. "They came out fired up and ready to go. We just played well. Davenport didn't run the ball for us much, but he played so well passing and managing the game."
Mansfield got its offense going after halftime capping its first second-half drive with a 25-yard touchdown rush from quarterback Christian Saygnaphay to cut the lead to 42-7.
Tigers running back Joseff Bucella led the way rushing 8 times for 101 yards with 2 touchdowns.
"I thought my kids kept fighting hard," Elmore said. "The game was getting away from us early, but I'm proud my guys didn't quit and moved the ball in the second half. Most things didn't go well, but we didn't give up."
Lamar's Joe Mueller finished with five carries for 71 yards including a touchdown to push the lead to 50-7 in the third quarter.
Sports on 10/03/2015