Mike Degen didn`t care that he was taking a chance on breaking his hand or something else. The Lake Park nose guard and captain was going to block the second-period De Kalb punt, no matter what.
And that`s what he did inside the Barbs` 15-yard-line Saturday in Roselle, setting up Don Petersen`s 27-yard field goal and the final points for the unbeaten Lancers in a 16-10 victory over their Upstate Eight rivals.
”The first time they punted, we had a return planned,” said Degen,
”but the center backed out and I could have gotten right through there. So the next time, I said I`m going in no matter what. And I got it. Boy, it about broke my hand, but that didn`t matter.”
The Lancers (4-0, 2-0) already had erased a 3-0 De Kalb lead, striking for a 40-yard touchdown when wide receiver Lon Stare made a diving catch in the end zone on a third-and-25 pass from quarterback Kevin Pleasant. Moments later, Bob DeLoach cradled a Barbs` punt at the Lancer 40 and, behind a solid blocking wall, raced to the De Kalb 2. Pleasant scored on the next play.
Then Degen got in the act, and Lake Park had a 16-3 halftime lead.
”Our best quarter`s usually the second,” said Pleasant, who hopes to direct the Lancers to their first undisputed Upstate Eight championship.
”We`re going to have to get off to a better start, but for some reason, the second quarter`s when we usually explode.”
”You can`t win all the time if you make those mistakes,” said De Kalb coach Tim Holdt, whose team fell from the unbeaten ranks. ”Those were the kind of things we were making other teams do, but we got it stuffed in our faces today.”
De Kalb (3-1, 1-1) closed to within 16-10 on Jim Shaffer`s 5-yard TD run with 3:49 left in the third quarter. A 46-yard screen pass from quarterback Dave Mason to Jay Paszotta set up the score. Then the Barbs drove from their 25 to Lake Park`s 15 early in the fourth quarter. But the Lancers` defense stiffened, and they took over with 8:39 to play.
”I think we were a little overconfident, but we clamped down when we had to,” said Degen.
Lake Park`s offense, with Mike Newingham and Greg Williams running behind linemen Jim Kenyon, Matt Akkeron, Mike Gillette, Kevin Bennema and Kevin Thorsen, then ground out a clock-killing 7-minute, 16-play drive that finally stalled at De Kalb`s 17.
”I wasn`t very pleased with the way these kids played today,” said Lake Park coach Bob Monken. ”It`s like all of a sudden the kids feel like, `Hey, I gotta play now.` The defense sputtered sometimes, the offense sputtered, but the kicking game was good.
”I`m not very pleased, but when you beat a 3-0 team, you`ve got to be doing something right.”
