The Lafayette Fighting Irish ran through the Savannah Savages Friday night in St. Joseph, Missouri.
North side pride week for the Irish which is a week for all north end elementary schools, middle schools and Lafayette high school celebrate the week with spirit days from Monday to Friday ending with the football game Friday night.
“North side pride week is for the student body for the kids the community tonight we played for Lafayette,” coach Bart Hardy said.
Savannah in the first quarter looked to be competitive as senior quarterback Chase Spoonemore’s 37-yard read option was the longest run for Savannah on the night.
Trickery for Lafayette as Punter Cade Cortez fake punted and ran the ball 48 yards to Savannahs 33-yard line. Two plays later senior running back Trey Washington ran 28 yards from a flick by senior quarterback Diego Bernard. That made the Irish go up 7-0 with 6:42 on the clock.
That would not be all from Bernard for the game.
After a 66-yard pass from Bernard, it set up a one-yard rush by Marco Rodriguez. The point after was missed and the score was 13-0 with 4:14 left in the first quarter.
Lafayette’s defense was strong for the night only giving up a total of six first downs, eight, four and outs and three turnovers on downs.
An early fumble recovery for the Savages lead to a punt with 9:58 left in the second quarter.
Middle through the second quarter Bernard found a senior wide receiver, Braden Cox, 54 yards for an Irish touchdown. The score made it 20-0 Lafayette.
Savannah next drive led to Irish senior linebacker Bryaden Becerria having a 12-yard loss sack to Spoonemore.
Now with 2:47 on the clock Bernard finds Cox in the back of the end zone for a touchdown. With another blocked PAT the score is 26-0.
The Irish were not done with the first half as Bernard also finds senior wide receiver Jaden King making the score go to 32-0 Lafayette. The point after was missed this time.
“Get the passing game on track, Benton shut us down. Work on our receivers, get timing down on routs so we know where to go and for me to pass it,” Bernard said.
The wide receivers did get targeted at throughout the game.
32-0 was the score heading to half time. Bernard had a total of 316 total yards with three touchdowns at the half.
Out of half time the Irish received the ball and marched all the way down the field and Bernard rushes the ball two yards into the end zone. The kick was good, now the score is 39-0 Lafayette.
Another four and out for the Savages. The savages’ offensive line was not helping out Spoonemore as no matter what play they ran did not accumulate any yards.
With two minutes left in the third quarter, Bernard passes 43 yards down the field to King. The now lead the savages 46-0.
The first play of the fourth quarter saw the Irish hold the Savages to a turnover on downs with a huge fourth and one stop to keep their dominance on the defense.
Lafayette’s next drive had sophomore quarter Daeton Mcgaughy came into replace Bernard and later the drive Mcgaughy fumbled the ball, but Lafayette recovered the ball. Lafayette ended up punting the ball away to Savannah. That was their first attempt of the punt for the night.
Mcgaughy finally got his first touchdown pass on the year as he finds sophomore Kaden Miller 10 yards down the field. The Irish now lead 53-0 with 2:53 left in the fourth quarter.
The biggest highlight for the Savages was they finally got a first down with one-minute left in the fourth quarter. Their first, first down since the first quarter.
“We took last Friday's game film broke that down and fixed all the little details, we kind of looked at what they are going to do from that,” Hardy said.
The Irish beat the Savages 53-0. The Lafayette Fighting Irish now needs to overcome the undefeated Smithville Warriors on the road. That game will be held in Smithville next Friday.