It was another first for Lambert’s junior varsity Friday, as the young Longhorns played in their first county rivalry game.

Like every week so far this season, the ‘Horns were up to the challenge, overcoming a slow start to put down Forsyth Central’s JV 28-10 at The Horn.

It was a win on the scoreboard, but for a team more interested in polishing fundamentals for next season’s varsity schedule, there was plenty of room for improvement — namely 63 yards of penalties assessed on seven flags.

“Offensively you’ve got to execute, and penalties really set us back tonight,” Lambert coach Sid Maxwell said.

“I mean, you can’t ... pick up a big play, then turn around, make it first down and 20 and try to recover from that.
Then you’ve put yourself in a hole, so we made some mistakes, but we’re going to do that, being a first-year program.”

Central lit up the scoreboard first, with Shane Garstecki hitting a 36-yard field goal with 4:52 left in the first quarter.

That would be the score until almost halftime, as Lambert’s first three possessions ended in a fumble, a punt and a turnover on downs, while the Bulldogs were unable to do much on any of their other first half drives.

Nick Croft (69 rushing yards) finally put the Longhorns in front, running around the left side of the defensive line and going 18 yards for a touchdown with 3:16 left in the half. The game went to intermission with Lambert in front 7-3.

The ‘Horns scored on their first three possessions of the second half to build a sizable lead. The opening possession of the third quarter went 57 yards, with quarterback David Broadus going 5 yards for a score. Croft added touchdown runs of 1 yard in the third quarter and 7 yards in the fourth to increase the margin to 28-3 with 6:15 left in the game.

Central finally found the end zone with 2:55 left, as quarterback Cameron Moore (104 total yards) faked a handoff to David Stone (61 rushing yards), then ran 48 yards for the touchdown.

Central lined up for an onside kick, but Lambert recovered. An ensuing six-play drive didn’t result in any points, but by the time Central got the ball back, only 16 ticks remained, enough time for two fruitless snaps.

Maxwell returned to the topic of inexperience when he talked about the onside kick.

“Our boys didn’t have any idea they were going to kick it over to that side. Everybody in the stands knew, but we were trying to coach them up from the sidelines,” the coach said.

“We yelled at them to go ahead and slide over because that’s where the ball was coming, and we made a good play to get it, but those are the little things that’ll come with establishing a program.”

Lambert’s John Ackland (104 total yards) and Corey Guhl (97 rushing yards) also had good showings for the home team.

Lambert hosts West Forsyth on Friday. Central’s top players will return to varsity action, hosting Marist.