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After a sluggish first half, the Lafayette Christian football team poured it on in the second half to earn a dominant 58-14 victory over Holy Ground.

The run game was churning all night but stalled out a bit in the first half. That was not the case in the second half as the team ended up racking up over 500 total rushing yards for the game.

“We finally started to play like we should in the second half,” LCS coach Jarred Pike said. “It was a very slow first half. We looked lethargic, and we played really slow.”

While it was not just Ephraim Snyder, he was once again the focal point of the offensive attack, totaling 291 yards and four total touchdowns. 

“We are trying to work him in and get him the ball any way that we can,” Pike said. “As many touches he can get on the ball in open space is good for us.”

David Karvelas hit Snyder for an eight-yard touchdown to open the scoring early in the second quarter. It would be the only points either team would score in the first half as LCS led 6-0 heading into the break.

The message at halftime was short and sweet.

“I told them to play football. I asked them what they were doing here and why they were playing down to their opponents,” Pike said. “I told them to figure it out and walked out after about 30 seconds.”

The second half was a totally different game as it was truly a tale of two halves. Snyder set the tone when he scored on an 11-yard touchdown run with 10:08 left in the third quarter. 

The Holy Ground offense would also start to find some traction in the third quarter, trimming the Cougar lead back down to just one score with a 62-yard touchdown pass. 

Snyder kept the Cougars just out in front, scoring his third touchdown of the game from 23 yards out to put LCS up 22-8, but once again the Stallions replied to cut the Cougar lead to just one score.

That would be the closest the score would get as the Cougars never let their foot off the gas from there.

Snyder, Brandon Davenport and Karvelas all got rushing touchdowns later in the third quarter to put the Cougars up 42-14 heading to the fourth quarter.

“Yes, Ephraim ran for over 290 yards, but the rest of the guys combined to run for over 200 yards, and that is big for us,” Pike said. “It is good to know that if somebody is struggling we have other guys to go to.

“We don’t just have a single way to attack and when that doesn’t go well we don’t just go home and cry and eat our ice cream and everything. We can attack and score in different ways.”

Karvelas finished as the team’s second leading rusher with 93 yards and threw for a touchdown to go along with his rushing touchdown.

“I was glad David settled in,” Pike said. “He settled in and took control. He doesn’t run a lot but when he does he is coming downhill.”

Noah Childree got in on the fun with two touchdown runs of his own in the fourth quarter to round out the scoring in the game. Connor Hudson got some valuable reps as well, finishing with 27 yards.

Even when the offense was struggling, the defense came to play, which has been the case every game through three weeks.

“They have only allowed 26 points in three games,” Pike said. “The defensive line is really getting after opposing quarterbacks and keeping the running backs hemmed up.

“The big thing is we don’t have just one guy out there trying to solo tackle, we have multiple guys flying to the ball.”

Lafayette Christian is now a perfect 3-0 on the season.

“We have learned a lot about ourselves,” Pike said. 

The Cougars will host an 0-3 Unity squad next Friday.