BYU commit Leo Pulalasi scores four TDs, Lakes defense keeps Kentwood out of reach in opener
The Lakes High School Lancers spent their season-opener Friday evening flying around the field.
Their offense piled up more than 300 yards — including 245 on the ground, averaging 7.9 yards per carry — and six touchdowns.
Their defense forced a pair of turnovers, scored twice — first on a safety on their first defensive snap of the game, then later in the half on a pick-six — and stymied drives throughout the contest.
What it all resulted in was a convincing, 50-23, nonleague win over Kentwood on the road at French Field.
“I think when we came out, we had a lot of energy,” senior running back and linebacker Leo Pulalasi said.
Pulalasi, a BYU commit, paced the Lancers’ offense early, and scored four touchdowns — one receiving and three rushing — including three in the first half, while piling up 103 all-purpose yards in the contest.
Four minutes after Lakes got on the board with a safety, Pulalasi scored the game’s opening touchdown to cap a long Lancers drive.
On second-and-goal from the 12-yard line, Lakes freshman quarterback Legend Galei picked up a low snap, calmly tossed the ball into the air, and Pulalasi made a leaping catch before turning across the goal line for a score.
Kentwood responded on the ensuing drive, but the Lancers scored again not long after, when Pulalasi found the end zone for a second time on a 6-yard run early in the second quarter.
He gave the Lancers a three-touchdown lead they never lost just before the break. After a Conquerors fumble deep in their own territory set Lakes up at the 1, Pulalasi promptly took a direct snap in for a third score.
The fourth touchdown he scored was also on a 1-yard carry on a direct snap in the fourth quarter, seconds after Galei set the Lancers up with a 29-yard quarterback keeper.
“I just followed my line and my blockers,” Pulalasi said of his three rushing scores, which were on consecutive attempts. “I just ran behind them, they led the way and that’s how we got in the end zone.”
Lakes running back Ki’marree Washington also found the end zone twice in the contest, scoring on the Lancers’ first and final drives of the second half.
He collected a game-high 155 yards on 13 carries — including 99 yards in the second half alone — and scored on rushes of 18 and 24 yards to extend the Lancers’ lead.
“Right now, our offense is really strong,” Pulalasi said.
So was the Lancers’ defense for much of Friday night’s contest.
Lakes forced the early safety, as well as an interception, fumble, three turnovers on downs and two punts, and stopped Kentwood behind the line of scrimmage on 20 plays.
“We really wanted to have a fast start and be aggressive,” Lakes coach Dave Miller said. “Our defense is really fast, so we were attacking and I think our quickness caused them some problems up front.
“They were bigger, we were faster. So, our speed took advantage of that and caused some problems.”
The Lancers took a 28-7 lead into the break, and built it as high as four touchdowns before Kentwood rallied for two touchdowns and a safety in the second half.
“I just think that we were able to fly everywhere,” Pulalasi said of Lakes’ defensive effort. “We were able to beat them before they got to the spot that they needed to be at, and that’s what helped us win.”
Kentwood did find more room to run in the second half, paced by sophomore running back Antoine Lee, who finished with 26 carries for a team-high 85 yards and two touchdowns.
His first score, on a 2-yard run on the Conquerors’ second drive, cut the lead to 9-7 late in the first quarter, but Lakes started to pull away after that. Lee ended a 10-play Kentwood drive in the third with another 5-yard score.
“He can do a lot of things,” Kentwood coach Matt Roth said. “We’re developing our physicality in front of him, so as we get going, we’ll find ways to get him more explosively, dynamically involved. But, he’s going to be our workhorse and he’s a special back.”
Conquerors quarterback Anthony Tucker also added a 7-yard rushing score midway through the fourth, which was followed up by a safety that made it 43-23 with 4:25 left, but Kentwood’s scoring ended there.
“The special thing for me is that we never, ever stopped,” Roth said.
“That was a very physical football game,” Miller said. “I think both teams are going to have really good seasons and are going to be tough to beat.”
EXTRA POINTS
▪ Miller, who is entering his 23rd season as the Lancers’ head coach, picked up win No. 191 with the victory.
“It’s a total team effort,” he said of the success throughout his career, which also includes 18 trips to the state playoffs as the Lancers’ head coach. “I’ve been really lucky.”
▪ Friday night’s game set up Miller and Roth on opposite sidelines for the first time as head coaches.
Roth coached as an assistant in two stints at Lakes on Miller’s staff, from 2006-15 and then again the past two seasons, before entering his first season as Kentwood’s head coach this fall.
“I’m excited for him,” Miller said. “He’s a natural leader and he’ll do a great job.”
Roth is the first of three former Lakes assistants who are now head coaches in the South Sound that Miller and the Lancers will face in the first four weeks of the season.
Lakes plays Jason Silbaugh and Bonney Lake in Week 3, then Pat Johnson and Stadium in Week 4.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Take your pick of the two big turnovers Lakes caused in the second quarter, which helped shift momentum in the Lancers’ favor early.
Lakes was leading, 15-7, early in the period, and the Conquerors were driving, looking to even up the score. But, on the fifth play of the drive, Tucker threw a short pass toward the right sideline which bounced off the hands of his intended receiver and into the air.
E’lijah McChristain snatched the pass, sprinted 39 yards up the sideline and went diving across the goal line to give the Lancers a two-touchdown lead.
Two possessions later, the Lancers again caused a Kentwood turnover when defensive end Daniel Chukwu caused a fumble near the goal line and linebacker Coronado Davis recovered it at the 1 to set up Pulalasi’s third touchdown on the next play, and give Lakes a 28-7 lead at halftime.
UP NEXT
Lakes (1-0) hosts River Ridge (0-1) in a nonleague contest at 7 p.m. Saturday at Harry E. Lang Stadium in Lakewood.
Kentwood (0-1) travels to Roy Anderson Field in Purdy next week to meet Peninsula (0-1) in a nonleague game at 7 p.m. Thursday.
This story was originally published September 3, 2022 at 1:59 AM.
