Leesville Road football
PHOTO BY ROB ORAZI
Carson Moss (75) and the Leesville Road defense allowed QB Will Turner and Broughton to reach the end zone just once Friday night, en route to a 31-6 Pride victory.
Pride gets revenge on Caps
Given the bitter memories of last year’s loss to rival Broughton, the Leesville Road football team had no shortage of motivation for Friday’s rematch.
Oddly enough, however, the Pride player who packed the biggest punch had no memory of last year’s game.
Gerroid Doughty, a transfer student from Wakefield — playing just his third game in a Leesville Road uniform — reeled in touchdown passes of 27 and 69 yards as the Pride put away the Capitals 31-6. With the victory, Leesville improves to 7-0 on the season.
Doughty's two catches were his only two of the game, and Friday was first time the senior has reached the end zone this season. The receiver may not have been there when the Capitals spoiled Leesville Road’s perfect record a year ago, but his teammates made sure the newcomer knew well what was at stake.
“They’ve been talking about it and how they beat us last year,” Doughty said. “We wanted to get them back and that’s what we did.”
“He’s a nice addition. He’s got good hands and good speed. He’s a good weapon,” Pride coach David Green said of Doughty.
Check out highlights from Friday's win over Broughton.
While Doughty shined brightest offensively, it was Leesville’s defense — playing without injured star safety Ryan Mangum — that warmed up the crowd.
After twice giving the Capitals good field position in the first quarter, the Pride recovered two fumbles at their own three-yard line, warding off scoring threats.
A wild snap on a Leesville punt gave Broughton the ball at the Pride 26 yard-line but on a third-and-goal play, Thurston Cox came up with the first loose ball in the end zone for a touchback.
Later, a 42-yard punt return by Broughton standout Juston Burris set up the Capitals at the Leesville 21-yard line, but Brandon Pittman fell on a fumble on another third-and-goal, keeping Broughton off the scoreboard.
“Those were big. That could’ve turned the game around,” Green said. “At that point we were playing about as bad as we can play. We started off a little slow, a little sloppy. We get so up for this game that I think we lose focus and overdo everything.”
The Pride was indeed slow to start, netting just 14 yards of offense on its first five possessions and trailed 6-0 after a one-yard touchdown run by Broughton’s Chris Manugs in the second quarter.
PHOTO BY ROB ORAZI
The Leesville Road student section was packed for Friday's contest against rival Broughton.
But that’s precisely when Leesville Road got things going. Just 25 seconds after Manugs’ touchdown, Stanley lobbed a touch pass down the left sideline to Doughty, who got behind his defender to score easily from 27 yards out.
And after a quick three-and-out by the Capitals, the Pride marched 46 yards in just over a minute and Stanley hooked up with Cox for a 16-yard touchdown pass with 45 seconds left in the quarter. The two scores were separated by just 1:49, and gave Leesville a 14-6 halftime lead.
The second half was all Leesville as Chris Hawthorne booted a 32-yard field goal, Doughty scored his second touchdown of the game and Austin Berrios scored on a 19-yard run late just moments after a frenzied scuffle.
Doughty dropped a sure touchdown in the third quarter but came back on the next possession to score on another speed route over the top of the Broughton secondary.
“I had to have a short mind (after the drop),” Doughty said.
After gaining 163 yards in the first half, the Capitals were held to just 54 yards of offense after halftime.
Despite outgaining Broughton just 220-217 in total offense, while completing only six passes and rushing for approximately 100 yards, the Pride still hung a lopsided score on its conference rivals.
“We always have Broughton circled,” Green said.
“I’ve been playing football for a long time so I’ve been in a lot of rivalry games,” Doughty said. “But this was a good one.”
The 7-0 Pride visits Wakefield (5-2) Friday, Oct. 9. Through two weeks of conference action, both teams are unbeaten at 2-0.
