Lamar healthy entering region play

By Dennis Brunson

        hssr.com Associate Editor

        Lamar – As the Lamar High School football team prepared itself to begin play in Region 2-Class A, there was one thing that made Silver Foxes head coach Stephen Burris happier than anything else.

“Right now, we’re healthy,” said Burris, whose team went 3-2 in the start of his second year at LHS. “We were able to get through non-region and we’re healthy. Any coach will take that.”

While he’d rather be undefeated in five games, Burris isn’t complaining too much about Lamar’s start. “We lost two close ones to two very good teams,” he said.

The Silver Foxes lost to AAAA Darlington 26-21 in their season opener. The other loss was 40-38 to AA Central. Darlington was off to a 3-2 start while the Eagles were 4-1.

The Central loss dropped LHS to 1-2. It rebounded with a 21-14 win over AA Lake City and a 49-0 triumph over AA North Central.

After giving up 40 to Central, Burris and his coaching staff made some adjustments defensively.

“We kind of went back to the drawing board,” said Burris, whose team opened region play on October 4 at McBee. “To start the season, we had several guys playing both ways because we needed them to. We changed it where some were just focusing on defense.

“Against Lake City and North Central, we were able to get back in line where we were tackling better, getting 11 people to the ball better, pursuing better. We took some lumps and it was a little bit of a growing process. I’m happy with how we’ve honed in in practice and do what we do and then see it on the field.”

Senior linebacker Vernon Ervin was leading the team in tackles with 54 and tackles for loss with four to go with 1 ½ quarterback sacks. Sophomore linebacker Jaquez Dargan had 50 tackles, two TFLs and a team high two sacks, while fellow sophomore linebacker DQ Green had 42 tackles.

The offense is led by junior quarterback Zori Pierce. The All-State performer had completed 41 of 76 passes for 632 yards and 12 touchdowns against no interceptions. He’s also the leading rusher with 221 yards and four scores on 36 carries.

Senior Alvion Ward had 216 yards and a score on 24 carries while catching three passes for 97 yards and a TD.

Pierce’s favorite target is senior Zoom Jackson. He had 18 catches for 229 yards and five TDs. Senior Kamon Miller had seven catches for 135 yards and three TDs, and senior Nyshaun Quillen had five catches for 87 yards and two scores.

“We’re trying to be balanced and have a lot more flexibility,” Burris said. “The offensive line, we haven’t had the same group start any game. We’ve just been shuffling the deck, see who works well together.”