When the final buzzer sounded Friday night at Howard, the scoreboard showed a dominant 63-26 homecoming win over Smyrna's Lancaster Christian Academy. But Hustlin' Tigers coach John Starr saw something different.
"It was frustrating to me because we got out to a big lead and then relaxed," Starr said after a very brief postgame talk with his players. "We have to be focused and be ready to play 48 minutes, and I feel like we played on and then would take a few minutes off and turn it on again."
It wasn't just Howard (2-4) that struggled to play a tidy game. The visiting Knights (2-3) added mistakes of their own as the teams combined for 33 penalties, 11 fumbles and seven turnovers.
"It goes back to focus," Starr said. "The goal tonight was for us to stay on our assignments and be as sharp as we can, and I don't think we did that."
Howard found several ways to score and jumped out to a 20-0 lead in the first quarter. McKenzie Williams got the home team rolling with a 4-yard score with 4:00 to go. He rushed for 106 yards on 14 carries in the first half alone.
Things unraveled for Lancaster Christian from there. After a 25-yard touchdown run for Howard's Calvin Johnson, the Tigers defense forced the Knights to try to punt out of their own end zone, and the snap sailed over the punter's head and through the end zone for a safety.
Dontavious Smiley took the ensuing free kick 57 yards for a touchdown.
"We have to fight through adversity," Lancaster Christian coach Shaun Bell said. "We can compete on paper, but we just get down on ourselves."
Smiley continued to shine on special teams, streaking through the line to block a punt. He scooped it up around the 13-yard line to put Howard up 27-0 before Jasean McKissack took a pass from Dany Crawford 48 yards to get Lancaster Christian on the board.
It was the first of three touchdown connections for the dynamic pair. McKissack and Crawford opened up the second half with a 30-yard score, and it was time for Howard to refocus.
The Tigers' running game began to dominate, rattling off 22 consecutive points in the third quarter. Williams ran it in twice, Tawon Billup added a 37-yard run and Smiley forced another safety.
"Our big guys were starting to get some good push up front," Starr said. "I didn't know who was running the ball all the time, but our big guys were doing what we like them to do."
The Knights got McKissack and Crawford's third touchdown connection and Taylor McCrary grabbed a fumble in the end zone to get within 49-26.
Williams, who ultimately racked up 201 yards, kept the visitors at bay, and a Howard fumble recovery in the end zone was the final margin.
Billup finished with 83 yards, and Smiley had a second kick return called back because of a penalty. Jaques Yarbrough had two interceptions.
Contact Idris Garcia at sports@timesfreepress.com