Lapel runs past Knightstown

By Justin Bates

October 11, 2008 12:08 am

— LAPEL — The Lapel backfield duo of Josh Owen and Shelby Weeks was a two-man wrecking crew against the Knightstown defense on senior night at Lapel.
Owen and Weeks combined for 400 rushing yards as the Bulldogs defeated the Panthers 41-13 on Friday night in Lapel’s home finale.
Owen led the way with 270 yards and four touchdowns on just 16 carries, averaging an eye-popping 16.9 yards per carry. He had touchdown runs of 90, 62, 46 and 24 yards. For the season, Owen also went over the 1,000-yard mark, finishing with 1,221 yards in eight games for an average of 156.8 yards per game.
“I have to thank Shelby Weeks, Mason Lloyd, J.R. Smart, Kyle Sheller, Logan Ingle, Jesse Chelli and Micah Walls,” Owen said of his offensive line and blockers. “I felt confident with all of those guys.”
Weeks also surpassed the 100-yard mark for the first time this season, finishing with 130 yards on 17 carries, including a 7-yard TD in the fourth quarter.
“It was a Shelby Weeks night,” Owen said. “He’s a bowling ball, and he will run over you. I was hoping he would get that first TD (which was called back on a penalty), and I was glad he got in there.”
For the game, Lapel finished with 41 carries for 427 rushing yards for an impressive 10.4 yards per play. Overall, the Bulldogs tallied 452 yards on just 48 offensive plays for an average of 9.4 yards per play. The sixth touchdown came on a 17-yard pass from Ryan Scott to Evan Roberts.
“We did more good things than we have in the previous games,” Lapel coach Nate Andrews said. “This is the most complete game we have played. We were pretty steady throughout the game tonight. When we had all 11 guys on the same page, we were in great shape.
“Josh had guys up front that were blocking their assignments, and he is a talented athlete," Andrews said. “The last two weeks, Shelby has done a much better job blocking, and he understands his role.”
Defensively, Lapel held the Knightstown offense to just 206 total yards, including just 24 in the pivotal second quarter when the hosts had 194 yards of offense. Four of the first 10 offensive plays for Knightstown went for negative yardage.
Thanks to a Lapel fumble deep in its own territory, Knightstown actually led 7-0 after 16 minutes, despite generating only 15 total yards of offense. However, three touchdowns in the second quarter turned the game around for the Bulldogs, and Owen’s 90-yard score early in the third sealed the victory.
“Our defense kept us in the game,” Andrews said. “They were playing so well.”
The only negative for the Bulldogs was that they finished with nine penalties for 88 yards, compared to only two for 29 yards for the Panthers.
Lapel (6-2) travels to Wes-Del for the regular season finale next Friday before hosting the first round of the sectional in two weeks.