Lance Smith carries Howland to win

The 58-37 victory broke a three-game losing streak.
By GREG GULAS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
STRUTHERS - Lance Smith rushed for 405 yards and seven touchdowns, as Howland and Struthers combined for 954 yards of total offense in the Tigers' 58-37 victory Thursday night in a Metro Athletic Conference football game.
Smith carried 28 times and scored on runs of 52, 24, 4, 2, 26, 55 and 60 yards, accounting for all but 35 of the Tigers' (4-4, 1-3 MAC) ground yards.
The win broke a three-game losing streak for Howland, while the Wildcats (1-7, 0-3) have lost four straight.
"I never head into a game thinking about rushing for 400 yards, but this is without a doubt the most complete game that I have ever played offensively," said Smith, who will play next season at the University of Wisconsin.
"The holes to run through were really big tonight, and that is because of the excellent job done by my offensive line," he added.
"Coach [Dick] Angle did a great job of calling the right plays at the right time. We had some leakage over the past three weeks, but tonight we plugged those leaks and played a complete, overall game."
Angle, whose teams are not accustomed to being at the bottom of the league standings, was pleased with his team's showing on both sides of the football.
"At the end of the first quarter, I thought that we might just see a 101-100 game. We were coming off three tough losses, but the team stayed focused, a little subdued but continued to work hard all week in practice," he said.
Fighting back
"Struthers always fights hard, and they fought back time and again tonight.
"This was without a doubt the best overall performance by a back that I have ever seen. Smith has been taking a bad rap of late because he was bottled up and struggled for yardage. That was not the case tonight."
The Tigers scored on their first nine possessions -- eight touchdowns and a field goal -- yet led just 30-22 at halftime.
Smith's 52-yard run on the third play of the game gave the Tigers an early 7-0 advantage, but Struthers quarterback Mike DuPonty found Jake Leko at 4:45 of the opening period to forge a 7-all tie.
Smith's 24-yard scamper with 2:01 remaining gave Howland a 15-7 lead (Dwayne Thomas added the conversion run), but then the Wildcats' Eric Anderson raced in from 24 yards, DuPonty hit Matt Kukura with the conversion toss, and Struthers knotted the score at 15 after the first period.
Smith's 4-yard run just 1:22 into the second quarter increased the Tiger lead to 21-15, but when DuPonty scored on a 1-yard run and then added the placement, the Wildcats took a 22-21 lead.
Smith's 2-yard scamper at the 5:10 mark of the period allowed the Tigers to regain the lead at 27-22, and with no time left on the scoreboard, Brian Paczak's 32-yard field goal put Howland ahead 30-22.
Made adjustments
"We made some adjustments at halftime, and the credit must go to our defensive coordinator, Eric Ungaro," Angle said. "Things that got away from us the past three weeks, we seemed to iron out. We were able to stop Struthers on their first two series of the second half and then took advantage offensively to build a little bit of a cushion."
The Tigers scored four touchdowns in the third period, Smith scoring on runs of 26, 55 and 60 yards while quarterback Ben Leece hit Brian Albani with a 35-yard scoring strike as Howland built a 58-30 lead.
DuPonty's 1-yard run and conversion kick in the fourth quarter for the Wildcats then rounded out the scoring in the game.
The Tigers had 440 yards on the ground and 170 though the air for 610 total yards, while the Wildcats had 260 ground yards and 84 passing yards for 344 total yards.
The Tigers held a 21-13 advantage in first downs.