No. 11 Lafayette turns back Poquoson to set up Bay Rivers title showdown with Warhill

The winner-take-all battle for the Bay Rivers District championship is on. Lafayette, ranked 11th in Hampton Roads, did its part to set the table for it with a 42-15 win over Poquoson on Friday night in a district game at Wanner Stadium.

Wanner will be the site Friday as the Rams (8-1, 7-0 district) will face arch rival Warhill (7-2, 7-0) with the Bay Rivers title on the line. Warhill defeated York 32-7 Friday night.

“I’m super-excited for that,” said Lafayette running back Demarcus Lawrence, who led the way with 206 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 14 carries. “Last year [when Lafayette, Warhill and York tied for the district title], they got us by a touchdown, 14-7.

“Honestly, we’ve been looking forward to this all year and I think it will be a good game, most definitely.”

Poquoson (6-3, 5-3) was competitive from the start, but the Rams built a 21-7 halftime lead on the strength of two long kick returns, a solid rushing attack and a huge goal-line stand.

After a three-and-out by the Islanders to start the game, Rams freshman Naye’Ron Hudson returned a punt 43 yards to the Poquoson 17. The Rams needed just four plays to cover the distance, with Lawrence running the final 3 yards to give the Rams a 7-0 lead.

Poquoson retaliated quickly by marching 75 yards in 10 plays for the tying score, aided greatly by four Lafayette penalties. Islanders quarterback Eli Tyndall ran 4 yards to tie the game at 7 late in the first quarter.

Elijah Matthews’ 39-yard kickoff return restarted the Rams’ offense in good position at its own 49. Lawrence began the subsequent drive with a 13-yard run and finished by bowling over two would-be tacklers on a 14-yard touchdown romp that made it 14-7 on the first play of the second quarter.

Lawrence’s sack of Tyndall ended a promising Poquoson drive and forced a punt. Lawrence then netted 48 yards on five carries to set up James Spencer’s 16-yard touchdown run that capped a 10-play, 79-yard drive and gave the Rams a 21-7 lead.

The Islanders had a chance to cut that lead in half when they took over at the Rams’ 10 via Nick Rhea’s fumble recovery. But Rams lineman Colby Quinn dropped Adonis Stowers for a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-goal at the 1 on the final play of the half.

Lawrence and Jaylen Pretlow fueled the Lafayette offense in the second half. Pretlow finished with 93 receiving yards on five catches, one of them a 52-yard TD bomb from quarterback Hayden Oleksy.

But the Lafayette running game did most of the damage again, with Pretlow running 1 yard for a touchdown, while Lawrence broke 65 yards for a score — deftly using an official as a pick to shake a Poquoson defender.

“The offensive line, week in and week out, keeps progressing and progressing,” Lawrence said of Colby Quinn, Jayson McCormick, Gunnar Zurek, Todd Neville and Mason Mills. “As we get deeper and deeper in the season, we’ve established a heavier run game and the offensive line has gotten really good.”