Game Recap: Durant vs. Lennard
After pulling away in the fourth quarter for a 22-6 win over Sumter last week, Durant scored early and often as they powered past Lennard in a huge 49-12 victory over the Longhorns on Friday night.
Lennard received the opening kickoff and flew down the field with a deep pass down the right sideline to Ha’keem Monroe. Then with a goal-to-go opportunity early, Durant’s defense stood tall and forced the Longhorns to deploy their field goal unit on fourth down. With some trickery early, Lennard rolled out of the field goal formation and fired a pass to the back corner of the end zone but couldn’t convert and turned the ball over on downs.
Durant took over inside of their own 10-yard line but gained just one first down before punting back to Lennard on their first drive of the night.
Once again Lennard was on the move, this time converting what seemed like an endless number of third downs en route to another scoring chance from Durant’s eight-yard line. On third and goal quarterback Gavin Henley connected with Monroe again, this time for six. The extra point was blocked and Lennard held a 6-0 lead, but it wouldn’t last long.
On the ensuing drive, the tandem of quarterback Marcus Migele and running back Calub Connell put together a number of strong runs that ultimately resulted in a one-yard touchdown from Connell, his first of multiple scores on the evening.
Lennard struggled fielding the following kickoff and were forced to start their third drive backed up near their own goal line. The Durant front seven broke through and defensive end Leo Tabakovich forced the Longhorns into an intentional grounding penalty from their end zone, resulting in a safety and a 9-6 lead for the Cougars.
Henley was injured on the play and Tyler Russell took over the quarterback position for the remainder of the game for Lennard.
From that point forward the scales began to tip heavily in Durant’s favor. Wide receiver Jeremiah Gines returned the safety kick across midfield, Connell broke free for a big gain to around the Lennard 30-yard line and Miguele then escaped the pocket and took off for a long touchdown run with less than a minute remaining in the half, putting the Cougars up 22-6.
Lennard had a chance to answer back but were immediately moved backward with a strip sack from Tabakovich, recovered by the Longhorns. On the next play Tabakovich got to Monroe again with a big hit, leading to an errant pass that was intercepted by safety Luther Scarlett — the first of two picks on the night for the sophomore defensive back.
With 5.9 seconds remaining in the half, Durant had time for one last play. Miguele dropped back and fired a rocket down the left sideline for Gines, hitting his receiver in stride for another touchdown and a 28-6 lead as time expired in the second quarter.
In the second half Durant continued to pull away, keeping the pedal down as they raced out to an insurmountable lead and a dominating 49-12 win.
The Cougars played complimentary football on Friday, with a number of big plays on both sides of the ball, with a number of big plays made by every class, from freshman to senior, and moved to 2-0 on the season.
Durant will look to continue their strong start to the 2021 season next week as they return home for a matchup against the Brandon Eagles.