Lafayette routs Cleveland Central to move to 4-1 in district play

Published 10:07 pm Friday, October 21, 2022

Lafayette cruised to a victory on Friday as they blew out Cleveland Central 35-15 behind a huge performance from running back Jay Reed.

The win marked the fourth straight victory for the Commodores (5-4, 4-1 Region 1-5A) following a 1-4 start to the season.

They have outscored opponents 170-49 over that stretch as they continue to get more comfortable in first-year offensive coordinator Will Wolfe’s new offense.

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Head coach Michael Fair said the biggest difference for his team over the past few weeks has been the improved play of the offensive line, which he credits for helping to jump-start the offense.

“If our offensive line is doing what they’ve done the last couple of weeks it really opens up so much stuff in the run game,” Fair said. “If they walked up playing a lot of man with a safety over the top or stacked the box we felt good about turning around and handing the ball off with the way the offensive line has played the last couple of weeks.”

The Commodores were able to get whatever they wanted against a Cleveland Central defense that has given up 28 points or more in seven of their nine contests this season.

Reed carved up the Wolves’ defense all night, finding huge running lanes punishing would-be tacklers en route to one of his biggest performances of the season.

“We feel really good about handing the ball off to a really good senior tailback,” Fair said. “He looked better tonight than he has in a few weeks and that was really big for us offensively.”

Lafayette’s defense was also up to the task in the victory as they used a bend-but-don’t break approach to keep the Wolves out of the end zone time and time again.

“They did a good job limiting the big plays and keeping them out of the end zone,” Fair said. “They really tackled as a team and I thought that was big for us.”

The Commodores have now won four straight games in Region 1-5A following a disappointing 1-4 start to the season. They all but wrapped up a playoff berth with Friday’s victory, and will attempt to keep their winning ways alive on the road next week when they travel to Greenville to take on the Hornets before closing out their regular season on the road against Lake Cormorant on Nov. 3.