The Walled Lake Western Warriors defeated the South Lyon East Cougars 21-14 last week which brings the Cougars to a record of 1-3.  This was not a pretty game for either team by a long shot, but rather a tough and grueling defensive battle. 

East fumbled the ball on the second play of the opening drive, and then the Warriors nearly fumbled on a wild snap over the head of the Western quarterback.  But Western was eventually able to get into a rhythm and march down to the field, capping off their drive by throwing a touchdown on 4th and short via an excellent play by the Western receiver.

To kick off the second quarter East was able to get excellent field position early off a pass interference call against Western, but the Cougars struggled mightily in the endzone.  After sailing a pass over the head of his receiver in the endzone, Cougars quarterback Nico Campo was intercepted on the outside corner of the endzone.  To start the next drive Walled Lake used a screen pass to break off a massive chunk of yardage, landing them inside of East´s redzone. 

The Warriors quarterback then almost had a pass picked off, but the East defensive back narrowly missed it and Walled Lake caught it to go up by two touchdowns. 

East’s offense continued to struggle, however, and an errant snap over Campo’s head proved to be insurmountable on this drive, forcing a punt.  On the next drive Western ran a sweep into the endzone to go up by no less than 21 points.  It really looked like the Warriors were just going to roll all game.

East finally started to get some momentum after they returned the kickoff to almost the 50 yard line.  Walled Lake then committed another pass interference call and put the Cougars deep into Warriors territory once again.  Despite his struggles to throw the ball so far, Campo lofted a ball to Drew Moyer in the endzone to get East on the board 21-7 going into halftime. 

While East picked up some momentum, it seemed clear to this point that they were only in the game due to the sloppy play of the Walled Lake secondary, which had given up over 75 yards in pass interference calls.  Still, at half, East was in the game.  Unfortunately defensive tackle DeAngelo Strowman, who had been making plays on defense all night, was injured and did not return.  

The marching band, Cougarettes, and the pom team all performed at halftime.

Walled Lake Western received the ball to start the half.  They marched down the field again and it looked like the game was out of reach, but a massive hit from the East defense forced a quarterback fumble that was recovered by the Cougars.  Unfortunately the offense was once again unable to capitalize on the turnover and punted.  No.2 Bryce Lambeth was injured on the punt and limped off the field, but he returned to the game shortly.

WLW went back their screen passes on the next drive, which they had executed to perfection so far.  But East was finally able to get pressure on the quarterback and forced an interception by Bryce Lambeth.  Sadly the offense faltered again after another wild snap and went three and out.  Western once again marched down the field after breaking off another massive chunk of yardage on a run play, but this time it was their offense that stalled, and they missed a field goal, giving the Cougars decent field position. 

This is where things got interesting.  Campo tossed it deep to senior Caleb Basch to get inside Walled Lake territory, only to throw an interception on a deep ball to Moyer.

Thankfully the Cougars defense stood tall again and got the ball back to the still dormant offense.  Campo threw two balls to Jordan Newbill for two first downs, before throwing him a third that resulted in a touchdown with 4:29 left in the game. 

Now only down by one touchdown, it looked as if East may pull off one of the biggest upsets in recent years.  Unfortunately it was not to be.  WLW was able to burn enough clock, aided by an accidental pass interference penalty on East, and was able to salt the game away.

In summary, this was an impressive display from an East defense that largely shut down the Walled Lake offense.  They have not allowed more than 24 points in one game this year and are averaging under 20 allowed in the game.  This is the best defense the Cougars have seen in some time and actually had a shutout second half, but unfortunately the offense, specifically the passing attack, has struck out for most of the season. 

The standout players for this game were Bryce Lambeth who was the most consistent East player on the field, and Jordan Newbill for his clutch performance that put East within spitting distance of a tie.