By DANIEL EVANS

Daily News

Momentum is a funny thing in football, and Lafayette Christian appeared to work most of Friday night to finally get it on its side. Unfortunately for the Cougars, it swung back the other way in a hurry in what turned out to be a 40-14 homecoming loss to Sherwood Christian (3-3) Academy.

The Cougars (4-3) trailed the entire evening, but had cut the deficit to 23-14 in the third quarter following a long run by quarterback Landon Whitley. Only a few plays later, Whitley’s pass to the end zone was intercepted by Sherwood’s Caleb Wiley, who zig-zagged down the sideline on a 101-yard interception return that put the Eagles up 30-14.

“Turnovers are one of those things that happen, and they switch momentum,” said Lafayette Christian head coach Nate Shaw. “We had struggled moving the ball all night, but if we finish off that drive you never know.”

It was one of three interceptions on the night for the Eagles, with the last coming on a diving catch by Blake Peterson with 5:13 left to play. On the next play, Wiley ran 40 yards for a game-clinching touchdown, putting the Eagles up 37-14.

Sherwood, with a 23-point lead, ran its normal offense in the final two minutes, including throwing several passes.

The Eagles ran the field-goal unit out as time ran down in the final seconds. Kicker Landon Davidson made his fourth field goal of the night from 35 yards out to put the Eagles up 26.

“The effort was there, it was just too many mistakes overall that put us in that situation where we had to make a comeback,” Shaw said.

Sherwood scored first on a 3-yard rushing touchdown by quarterback Ketavion Curry and added on a Davidson field goal to go ahead 10-0. Whitley scored two touchdowns, with the first coming on a 62-yard scramble that brought the Cougars within three with 9:01 remaining in the second quarter.

The Cougars recovered the ensuing onside kick, but couldn’t get any points out of the drive after a high snap on a fourth and inches resulted in a turnover on downs.

After the stop, an Eagles’ drive marched down the field and ended with a Zachary Davidson touchdown run from scored 11 yards out to put Sherwood up 17-7 going into the half.

After a 22-yard Davidson field goal, the Cougars scored on a 30-yard run by Whitley, bringing the score to 20-14 Sherwood. Another Davidson field goal made it 23-14 as the Eagles scored the game’s final 20 points to put it away.

“The final score wasn’t indicative of how the game went. We’ll look at the film and break it down, which is good because we got all dinged up,” Shaw said. “I don’t think any of our injuries are too, too severe.”

Lafayette Christian is off next week before hosting Calvary Christian Oct. 12.