The Piedmont offense was held in check by the Lawton Eisenhower Eagles Friday night at Cameron Stadium in the first quarter.
It was not until 48 seconds were left in the quarter that Piedmont reached the 48-yard line of the Eagles.
On the next play in Eagle territory, quarterback Grayson May pitched the ball to DreAndre Bruton who appeared to take it into the end zone but had stepped out of bounds at the 16-yard line.
Piedmont had a large lead evaporate in the fourth quarter, but held on to win 49-31.
The first quarter ended and the second started with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Bruton.
The first quarter defensive struggle featured some solid defensive tackles and a backfield disruption by Willie Cruz, who made a tackle for loss. Tatym Stahlman also had a tackle for a loss, stifling Eagles’ drives.
In the second quarter, Lawton Rashaud Hurt broke off several long runs before a 19-yard touchdown toss from Charlie Trachte to Brandon Goldsmith.
On special teams, Bruton took the kickoff after the Eagles score to midfield, but a holding penalty erased the good field position.
Mikah Rocco made an interception with 5:55 to go in the second quarter and the Wildcats had the ball at the 30-yard line.
Jayden Fuston took it from there. Fuston scored on the next play.
Hurt went down with an apparent injury with 5:23 left in the second quarter.
Rocco came up with another big play, a blocked punt recovered by the Wildcats at the 35-yard line with 4:50 to go in the half.
Fuston scored on a 4-yard run to give the Wildcats a comfortable lead. A failed fake punt gave the Wildcats the ball back before halftime. May found Lane Whitworth in the end zone for a 19-yard TD toss. That made the score 27-7, and the Wildcats were cruisin’ at the half.
In the third quarter, Bruton scored on a 40-yard dash to the end zone and a two-point conversion play was good to make it 35-7. May threw a pass to Ethan Burns for the conversion.
The Eagles had some offensive success. Hurt scored for Lawton on an 8-yard run with 22 seconds to go in the third quarter. Piedmont had penalties that helped the Eagles’ drive.
Piedmont’s Carter Hainrihar had a tackle-breaking romp to the 2-yard line and May took it in from there to up the score in the fourth quarter.
Lawton didn’t give up. Their offense found some plays that worked up the middle, and Hurts had a 4-yard touchdown with 6:16 to go in the game, and the score was 42-19. The Eagles failed on a 2-point conversion, but a defensive holding penalty gave them a second chance. Piedmont stuffed the run attempt by Eagles’ quarterback Trachte.
Bruton had a 75-yard TD run to answer and it was 49-19 with 6:57 to go in the game.
Still Lawton would not say quit. The Eagles scored with 3:28 to go. Lawton’s Tristan Swigert stripped the ball from a Piedmont running back and ran untouched 45-yards for a defensive TD.
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