MONTICELLO – Quarterback Eric Godette ran for four touchdownsand passed for another as the Quitman Panthers defeated theLawrence County Cougars 43-24 in high school football action Fridaynight. Quitman dominated the line of scrimmage, and easily overcamethree big plays by Lawrence County to earn the non-divisionwin.

With the win, Quitman, coached by John Douglass, improved to 3-3 onthe season. Lawrence County, under coach Mike Davis, fell to 2-4.Both 4A teams have battled through tough non-divisionschedules.

“It was a tough night for us,” said Davis, whose Cougars openRegion 7-4A play at North Pike. “I knew they would execute well,but I didn’t realize, from watching them on film, how much bigger,thicker, their guys were than ours.

“It wasn’t for lack of effort on our kids’ part, but we took aphysical beat-down tonight.”

While Quitman largely dominated the game, three big plays keptLawrence County in contention until the fourth quarter. WithQuitman leading 7-0 in the first quarter, Lawrence County’s DerrickEvans blocked a Panther punt and LCHS linebacker Lakendrick Barnesreturned it 35 yards for a touchdown.

With Quitman in control at 22-7 in the second quarter, LawrenceCounty’s Glenn Russell, Jr. broke loose on a 62-yard touchdown run.In the third quarter, with Quitman threatening to make a route ofit, Russell went 77 yards for a touchdown. Aside from Russell’s twolong runs, LCHS gained just 39 yards on 30 offensive plays.

Quitman, meanwhile, was controlling the football, behind a large,dominant offensive line. The Panthers rushed for 181 yards, withGodette (20-89) and Anthony Chambers (17-79) accounting for all but13 of them. Godette also completed 11 of 19 passes for 143 yardsand a touchdown.

“Their skill guys did a good job,” Davis said, “but their big guysin the trenches–on both sides of the football–made most of thathappen. We had a tough time stopping them behind that big offensiveline, and we had a very, very tough time blocking their bigdefensive front.”

Godette scored on runs of 2,1,6, and 7 yards, and tossed asecond-quarter 30-yard touchdown pass to Delandreaus Turner.Godette was turned away from yet another score by a Lawrence Countygoalline stand in the waning moments of the game.

Lawrence County got a bit of a tough break late in the secondquarter. Trailing 22-14, Cougar fullback William Turnage brokeloose on an apparent 34-yard touchdown run. However, an inadvertentwhistle sounded during the play-an official apparently thought adifferent LCHS player had the ball-and Turnage was credited withonly a 7-yard gain. The Cougars ended up getting a Trevor Havisfield goal on the possession, cutting Quitman’s lead to 22-17 athalftime.

“That was a tough break,” Davis said, “but it didn’t have a hugebearing on the outcome. Give credit to Quitman. They’re easily thestrongest team we’ve played so far.”