Lake Holcombe nearly takes win over Wayland

By Ginna Young

Picking up a game to play when they can, the Lake Holcombe football program hosted Wayland Academy, which has athletes from all over the world. The home game Sept. 26, was the closest match yet and while they were down at halftime, the Chieftains came roaring back to almost win the game.

Wayland narrowly squeaked by with the 26-22 victory, but it was an encouraging night for Lake Holcombe.

“The boys never quit,” said coach John Stender. The Chieftains had three touchdowns on the night – the most this season – coming from senior Chase Burgess, on a 15-yard run; a 15-yard pass to sophomore Emmit Johnson, from sophomore Connor Kane; and a 35-yard pass to Burgess, from Kane, followed by a 20-yard, two-point conversion.

Lake Holcombe ended the match with 310 yards, coming from 94 passing and 86 yards rushing from Burgess, while Kane had 52 yards rushing and sophomore Kadyn Jones came up with 45 yards rushing.

The Chieftains were also spot on with defense, as Kane recovered a fumble caused by freshman Weston Winchel, along with an offensive fumble recovered by senior Trent Lee, for a 5-yard gain and another fumble recovered by junior Brody Miller.

Jones also had an interception, while Kane had 16 tackles. Burgess and Jones followed that with 10 tackles, while Miller had 8 tackles.

Lake Holcombe now sits at 0-5 overall and are 0-3 in the league.

“We played hard and are going in the right direction,” said Stender. “All you can do is play and get better.”