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Lebanon holds off La Vergne comeback bid for 45-33 victory




La Vergne's Kavian Taylor breaks off a run against La Vergne Friday night at Lebanon. STEVE WAMPLERSteve Wampler

La Vergne’s Kavian Taylor breaks off a run against La Vergne Friday night at Lebanon. STEVE WAMPLERSteve Wampler

LEBANON – Lebanon’s wild 45-33 victory over La Vergne Friday at Tribble Field/Watkins Stadium resembled a track meet more than a football game as the teams combined for an incredible 841 yards in total offense and 38 first downs.

It was certainly not for the faint of heart.

The Blue Devils (1-2) mounted leads of 18 points in the third period and 17 in the fourth, only to see the never-say-die Wolverines answer with scores of their own.

In a game where no lead was safe and every kicking situation was an adventure, Lebanon’s Dequantay Shannon was a stabilizing force for the home team.

The senior rose to the occasion with 172 yards rushing on 23 carries and scored five times on runs of 16, 5, 9, 4 and 31 yards.

Along the way, he passed Carlos Gaines to become Lebanon’s top ground gainer in at least the last half century with 2,465 yards.

La Vergne opened the game with an 11-play, 70-yard scoring drive that ended with a 3-yard scoring flip from Lavandrea Webb to Kevian Taylor in the flat for a 7-0 lead at the 6:48 mark – the only time the Wolverines would lead.

La Vergne quarterback Lavandrea Webb throws a pass against Lebanon. STEVE WAMPLERSteve Wampler

La Vergne quarterback Lavandrea Webb throws a pass against Lebanon. STEVE WAMPLERSteve Wampler

Following a short La Vergne punt later in the period, Lebanon knotted the score with 2:07 remaining in the first quarter as Shannon tallied from 16 yards out on an off-tackle run.

The Blue Devils scored back-to-back touchdowns as Jalen Abston eluded a would-be sack and found Jarred Hall running free on the boundary for a 47-yard pitch and catch mid-way through the second quarter.

Right before intermission, Lebanon drove 80 yards in 9 plays and scored with 12 seconds left on the clock as Shannon bulled in from 5 yards out.

However, two missed PAT’s sent the Blue Devils into intermission up only 19-7.

“Three of the last four have been high scoring games but they haven’t turned out the way we wanted to in the end,” La Vergne coach Mike Woodward said. “We had two opportunities in the first half that really came back to bite us.

“We had two receivers get behind people and we missed both plays. We could have been up 21-19 at the half if we make them two plays.”

La Vergne's Puk Puk (54) and Lebanon's Bronner Goshem battle in the trenches Friday. STEVE WAMPLERSteve Wampler

La Vergne’s Puk Puk (54) and Lebanon’s Bronner Goshem battle in the trenches Friday. STEVE WAMPLERSteve Wampler

La Vergne took advantage of a Lebanon miscue on the second-half kickoff as Greg Bush hustled down and recovered the ball at the LHS 1.

Ray Banner rammed in a 1-yard TD on the first play from scrimmage and with Rodrigo Majano’s PAT, the Wolverines had trimmed the lead to just 19-14 with only two seconds off the clock.

Lebanon answered with a 6 play, 55-yard drive that ended in another Shannon touchdown, this one from 9 yards out to push his team ahead 25-14.

After an exchange of punts, Lebanon’s Will Seats hauled in a pass over the middle, shook off two defenders and scooted 57 yards to pay dirt, moving his team to 32-14 with 6:34 remaining in the third period.

Following a shanked Lebanon punt, La Vergne took over at the Blue Devil 29 and scored three plays later on Banner’s 10-yard run – slicing the lead to 32-21 with 10:37 left in regulation.

La Vergne's Kahil Nesmith brings down Lebanon's Dequantay Shannon. STEVE WAMPLERSteve Wampler

La Vergne’s Kahil Nesmith brings down Lebanon’s Dequantay Shannon. STEVE WAMPLERSteve Wampler

“We’re going to play every minute and never quit, but we just a lot of things to clean up,” Woodward said. “In the second half we had a couple of penalties that got us behind the sticks. We don’t have to be second and 18 or third and 12.”

The rest of the fourth quarter went back and forth as Lebanon’s Shannon scored touchdowns and La Vergne dented the scoreboard with a 40-yard TD pass from Webb to Isaiah Banner (5:46 remaining), and tight end Tim Lymon’s 18-yard touchdown reception from Webb with 26 seconds to go.

Webb completed 19-of-37 pass attempts for 213 yards. He threw three touchdown passes and was picked off once.

“I thought (Webb) did a great job making plays with his feet,” Woodward said. “They tried to take Ray (Banner) out the picture. We had some things open up in the passing game, but again we had little things happened that we can’t afford to happen.”

Banner finished with 119 yards on 22 carries and scored twice.

Lebanon’s Abston, just a sophomore, completed 12-of-20 for 176, two scores and didn’t throw an interception.

La Vergne, now 2-2, is scheduled to host Stewarts Creek Friday, Sept. 18 at Freedom Field.

Lebanon returns to Region 4, 6A play at Hendersonville.

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