
DATE: Saturday, October 18, 1997            TAG: 9710180614

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JAMES C. BLACK, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   54 lines

DEEP CREEK DEFENSE SHUTS DOWN LAKELAND HORNETS ALLOW JUST FOUR FIRST DOWNS AND 74 TOTALS YARDS.

In the spirit of tonight's World Series opener, coach David Cox used baseball terms to describe Deep Creek's defensive effort.

``You always want to pitch a shutout when you play a good defensive game,'' Cox said.

The No. 4 Hornets held Lakeland's offense to four first downs, 74 yards and no points during a 27-8 Southeastern District road victory Friday night. Deep Creek (5-2, 4-0) remains tied with top-ranked Western Branch (7-0, 4-0) for first place in the district.

``We couldn't get on track,'' Lakeland coach Ed Smither said.

The Cavaliers (4-3, 2-2) punted on three of their first five possessions - faking a punt and fumbling on the other two.

Then, with less than three minutes left in the first half, Kevin Knight hobbled to the sideline after a 3-yard gain. Knight sprained his ankle on the play and missed the remainder of the game.

Smither said the injury was nothing serious but didn't want to risk further injury by sending Knight, the area's second leading scorer, back out in the bad weather.

With Knight on the sideline, things got no better after intermission.

Three of the next five possessions led to turnovers with the other two ending in punts.

Lakeland's biggest gain came on a 16-yard blocked punt return by Sam Dunn to cut the deficit to 14-8 with 9:57 left in the third quarter.

The Cavaliers then tried an on-side kick but Deep Creek recovered the ball at the 50.

During district play, Deep Creek has given up four touchdowns but all of the scores have come during special teams play.

On the other hand, the opponents have not had such an easy time slowing down the Hornets' offense.

The Hornets drove 54 yards on their second possession and capped the drive with Lamonte Mills 23-yard scoring pass to Chris Crocker with 1:01 left in the first quarter.

With 26 seconds left in the first half, Demont Dunlap scored on a 7-yard run for a 14-0 lead.

In the second half, Jams Green helped put the game away.

Green, the area's No. 3 scorer going into the game, scored on a 30-yard run with 2:02 left in the third quarter for a 21-8.

He capped the scoring with a 9-yard run with 3:25 left in the game. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

LAWRENCE JACKSON/The Virginian-Pilot

Deep Creek's Chris Crocker, left, scores in the first quarter as

Lakeland's Kevin Knight hangs on. The Hornets rolled to a 27-8

victory.