WEST CHESTER TWP. — Braydon Johnson didn’t want anything to do with Lakota West’s loss to Princeton last week.
In fact, all of the Firebirds put that aside, and it was evident during the second half Friday night.
Johnson had four touchdowns, quarterback Sam Wiles threw for 216 yards and two scores, and Lakota West shut out Fairfield in the final two quarters to capture a 50-14 Greater Miami Conference victory at Firebird Stadium.
“Coach (Tom Bolden) said, ‘They’re going to think you’re down, but come back like nothing happened,’” said Johnson, a junior running back. “We were mad about the game. We were not upset about it. That helped us, too, in that aspect.”
Lakota West (3-1, 2-1 GMC) has won five straight against Fairfield (2-2, 2-1 GMC) after the Indians had reeled off five consecutive from 2014 to 2019.
Wiles added 128 yards rushing, while Lakota West senior linebackers Cam Thomas and Micah Markley each had 10 tackles.
Johnson scored his first touchdown on a 1-yard plunge to put the Firebirds up 7-0 with 4:09 left in the first quarter. Indians quarterback Dominic Back hit Tyon Spiller on a nice 22-yard touchdown pass to tie it up at 7-7 less than two minutes later.
Wiles connected with Luka Gilbert on a 39-yard touchdown strike, and Johnson found the end zone from 8 yards out to put Lakota West ahead 21-7 midway through the second quarter.
Back threw a 3-yard TD pass to Brayden Miller to pull Fairfield to within 21-14 with 3 minutes remaining in the first half. Then the Firebirds shut down the Indians’ hurry-up, no-huddle offense the rest of the way.
Wiles responded with a 29-yard touchdown pass to Tyson Davis to send Lakota West into the break ahead 28-14.
The Firebirds had an uncharacteristic 11 penalties for the game — most of them in the first two quarters — but they were able to sort through it at halftime.
“It just wasn’t clean,” Bolden said. “We’re aggressive. There ain’t a doubt about that, and I coach them aggressive. Sometimes that shows with how we play. But 11 penalties? That ain’t us.
“We went in and talked about it,” Bolden added. “The thing with defense, I always use the term, ‘Be quick, don’t hurry.’ We just needed to be quick lining up to their hurry offense. We were out there hurrying, lost discipline and then had bad eyes.
“But, had a nice little attitude adjustment. Challenged them big time at halftime. Coaches came in and made the adjustments we needed to make, and they did a great job. We put together some long drives offensively, too, in the second half — which really helped out.”
Two more Johnson touchdown runs and a Trey Barnette 8-yard score — to go along with a safety — rounded out the Lakota West scoring in the second half.
“I had a great night — four touchdowns, getting what I could get when I got the ball,” Johnson said. “Offensive line was moving perfectly with me. Tight ends were helping a lot. Me and Sam, our meshes were helping a lot for me to be able to get open because he was getting free on some, too. It was perfect.”
Tyler George, the GMC’s leading rusher heading into Friday night, ran for 100 yards for Fairfield. Back finished with 122 yards passing and his two TD passes. Fairfield senior Gabe Ross had a game-high 15 tackles.
“Physically, we just didn’t match their physicality,” Indians coach Jason Krause said. “We started five sophomores tonight (on defense), and that shows. Obviously, in our conference, if you’re starting sophomores, just physically, they’re behind a little bit — especially against a good ballclub like that.
“No excuses. That’s just the best we’ve got,” Krause added. “Those guys have got to play. It’s almost halfway through the season. I’m not just pinpointing sophomores who go out there and play, but it’s tough to play sophomores in our conference. … I just wanted to see us fight a little bit more.
“We did some good things. Still struggled with slowing them down. Offensively, we had some big plays. That’s what we need out of that offense. We looked good in the first half. Second half, physically, they handled us on both sides of the ball.”
UP NEXT
Lakota West travels to Middletown next week, while Fairfield hosts Lakota East.
