Devils denied again despite Davis' 248 yards

From staff reports

PORTLAND — Lebanon's offense enjoyed a wake-up call Friday night. But despite 248 yards and three touchdowns from Taye Davis, the Blue Devils had to play catch-up all night in a 49-35 loss.

The Panthers pounced to a 27-0 lead in the second quarter on three runs and a blocked punt return.

Davis came back with scoring runs of 70 and 25 yards as the Blue Devils drew within 27-14. But another long Portland run lifted the Panthers to a 35-14 halftime lead.

"Just got behind early," Lebanon coach Troy Crane said after his Blue Devils dropped to 0-8 for the season and 0-5 in District 9-AAA. "That many points and we struggled getting off the field. They are a machine with the single wing."

Lebanon's machine showed more signs of life in the second half as Davis darted 79 yards to draw the Devils within 35-21. But the Panthers doubled Davis' third-quarer production to go up 49-21 going into the fourth.

Ethan Copas helped make the final more respectable with a 10-yard touchdown run. Freshman quarterback Christian Haffner, playing despite an injury which was feared to be season ending and has limited his snaps, flipped a 20-yard scoring toss to Winkie Johnson.

"We had drives that got stalled on penalties," Crane said. "We just could not slow them down any on defense. They just had our number."

After the district takes next week off, Lebanon will host Beech at 7 p.m. Oct. 19 at Clifton Tribble Field/Danny Watkins Stadium.