Ringgold's D.I. Goins (5) picks up a big Tiger gain as he follows the block of Bryan Derben (73).RINGGOLD, Ga. - A 49-12 win over your oldest rival is always a tonic for what ails you, and what bothered Ringgold Friday night as Catoosa County neighbor Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe came calling was a serious bad taste in the Tigers' collective mouth.
After a Region 6-AAA loss against Calhoun two weeks ago in which Ringgold outplayed the second-ranked Yellow Jackets for most of the game, the Tigers had to suffer through a bye week in which two players quit the team and its best playmaker, Kile Sholl, was sidelined with a broken foot. So after scoring on five of six first-half possessions, Ringgold (4-2, 2-2) took no mercy on an LFO team that also was missing several starters.
"It was nice. We thought we played real well against Calhoun and gave ourselves a chance to win, but that one stuck with us a bit," Ringgold coach Robert Akins said. "When our offense is clicking like tonight, we're hard to stop. Defensively we played kind of soft, but we did what we had to do to win.
"It was nice to get back in the win column, and now we can hopefully go take care of business against a fine Sonoraville team next week."
Quarterback Devin Lancaster passed for 224 yards on 11 completions for one touchdown while also adding a short scoring run as the Tigers amassed 514 total yards. Senior running back D.L. Goins, expecting a greater workload with Sholl out, had just eight carries but made them count for 138 yards and three touchdowns.
A Goins 36-yard run on the game's third play set up Nathan Bello's 1-yard run and a 7-0 lead just 1:35 into the game. On the Tigers' next possession Lancaster took center stage, hitting Garrett Yates for 46 yards, Goins for 19 and tight end Tristan Pierce for an 8-yard touchdown. After forcing a three-and-out, Ethan Dalton's 29-yard run moved the ball to the LFO 16, where two plays later Goins scored from 5 yards out for a 21-0 lead as the first period ended.
LFO held the ball for eight minutes of the second quarter and got on the scoreboard with quarterback Ryan Keefe's 6-yard run, but Ringgold answered right back behind Lancaster, who was 3-for-3 for 54 yards, leading to Goins' 7-yard run. A fumble on the kickoff set up the Tigers again, and three plays later Yates ran a reverse for an 8-yard touchdown and a 35-6 halftime lead.
"We wanted to come out and get better each week before the playoffs, and we did that tonight," said Lancaster, who was 9-of-11 in the first half for 180 yards. "The big thing is we didn't have any injuries. We wanted to come out with some fire and enthusiasm, and we jumped out on them pretty quick and kept rolling."
Seven different Tigers caught passes, with Goins gaining 80 yards on four catches. Jesse Flanagan led LFO (3-4, 3-2) with 65 yards on 19 carries, with Sam Eaves grabbing seven receptions for 66 yards.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296.