MONTICELLO – The Lawrence County Cougars outscored the VicksburgGators 46-21 in football action Friday night. The Cougars raced toa 20-0 halftime lead, saw that lead cut to 20-14 when LawrenceCounty mishandled two third-quarter kickoffs and then put the gameaway with another scoring spree.

With the win, Lawrence County improved to 2-3 on the season. The 6AGators, coached by Alonzo Stevens, fell to 0-4.

“It was a good night for us,” said seventh-year Lawrence Countycoach Mike Davis. “We’d had a rugged four weeks that left us sortof beat up. We’ve still got a lot of banged up people, but the oneswe put on the field tonight did a pretty good job.

“Our kids needed and deserved a good night. They’d put in four goodweeks of work with very little to show for it. I’m proud for ourkids.”

With their top two quarterbacks felled by injuries, the Cougarsreturned to their traditional infantry attack, and banged thefootball right at the bigger Gators. With junior running backAlexander Montgomery leading the way with 199 yards and 4touchdowns, Lawrence County rushed for 442 yards and maintainedfootball possession for two-thirds of the game.

Lawrence County got first-half touchdown runs from William Turnage,Glenn Russell, Jr., and Montgomery to forge a 20-0 halftime lead.What looked like a blowout got a bit uncomfortable for Cougar fanswhen LCHS failed to handle two straight kickoffs to start thesecond half.

Vicksburg converted both Lawrence County miscues into touchdowns,scoring on a 2-yard run by Adam Reed, and a 5-yard run by DariusYoungblood. Suddenly, shockingly, it was 20-14.

After that, Lawrence County restored order, with the Cougars’ onlythird-quarter possession resulting in a 13-play, 7-minute drive,and Montgomery’s second touchdown of the night. LCHS sealed the winmidway through the fourth quarter, when quarterback LaQuan Hilliardwent 16 yards for a score. That gave the Cougars a comfortable33-14 lead.

Late in the game, Vicksburg gunslinger Cameron Cooksey connectedwith A.J. Stamps on a 65-yard touchdown pass, and Montgomery addedtwo more late scores for the Cougars, one set up by a LaKendrickBarnes pass interception.

Hilliard filled in admirably at quarterback, rushing for 100 yardson 18 carries. Turnage had 56 yards on just 3 attempts, and Russellrushed 16 times for 87 yards.

Vicksburg was largely dependent on Cooksey, a rangy juniorquarterback. Despite taking a considerable pounding, thestrong-armed Cooksey completed 11 of 28 passes for 181 yards.Darius Youngblood rushed for 53 yards for the Gators.

“Obviously, we botched a couple of kickoff returns,” Davis said.”Otherwise, I felt like we controlled the game. We’re a little bitlimited in what we can do right now, but our guys made itwork.

“Their quarterback did a really good job. He throws the ball well,and he’s not afraid to hang in there to the last second.”

Davis’ Cougars will close out non-division play this week, hostingthe Quitman Panthers on Friday at 7:30 p.m.