Seniors lead Lake Park to first victory

Looking for its first victory of the year, Lake Park leaned on some senior leadership and inspiration Friday night in Roselle.

A strong second half gave the Lancers all the breathing room they needed en route to a 42-0 victory over East Aurora.

"One of our seniors, Chris Kowalski, had an amazing speech today at the pep rally talking about how we believe that we can win any game and the fans came out and gave us a big lift," sophomore Kevin Teglia said.

After a lackluster first half, Lake Park (1-5, 1-0) still led 13-0, but bad penalties and turnovers left the Lancers feeling like they left a lot of points on the field.

"Even though coming in we were 0-5, we believed we could win and we did the job in the second half," running back Ronald Castaldo said.

Castaldo got the ball rolling for Lake Park as he scampered for an 11-yard touchdown to give Lake Park the early 7-0 lead.

However, despite good field position on numerous first-half drives, the Lancers could not get the offensive consistency they were looking for.

That changed in the second half, as three senior running backs scored touchdowns to cement the Lancers' homecoming victory.

"Our seniors were part of a really good team last year, and I think this year, I give those seniors a lot of credit because there's been times when you start losing kids and they start to quit, but our seniors are really committed to changing that, and all three senior running backs got to score and that sent a good message," Lake Park offensive coordinator Chris Roll said.

Lake Park poured it on via rushing touchdowns from seniors Keith Wilson, Alex Rodriguez and Yorgo Sepsakos, as well as a fumble recovery in East Aurora's end zone by linebacker Esteban Diaz.

"We just kept at it, our offensive line kept pushing, and that's a key to our success, our senior offensive line," Teglia said.

East Aurora (0-6, 0-3), meanwhile, controlled the ball for much of the first half but continually came up empty.

"We wanted to run the ball, but I think we should've run the option a little more," East Aurora quarterback Laquan Brown said. "The offensive line did a good job in the first half, but we have to be consistent. Our offense needs to stay on the field longer because our defense was out there a lot and they got tired."

Despite the lopsided loss, East Aurora coach Bill Bryant did see some positives.

"The defense I though played well," Bryant said. "Mike Green is one heck of a linebacker, he stepped up and did a wonderful job; he and Francisco Garcia were our bright spots."