By PETE MOLLICA

sports@vindy.com

HOWLAND

Howland High tailback De’Veon Smith is just a sophomore, but after two games the 6-foot, 213-pound speedster is quickly becoming a veteran in the Tigers’ backfield.

Smith carried the ball 38 times for 277 yards and two touchdowns Friday night to lead the Tigers to a 35-14 victory in the backyard rivalry against Lakeview.

Howland (2-0) ran 48 offensive plays against the Bulldogs (1-1) and Smith had almost all of them.

Smith and senior quarterback Tim Parano, who also scored a pair of touchdowns, took care of the Howland offense, but according to coach Dick Angle, it was the defense that came up with the big plays that led to the victory.

“We knew coming into this game that it would be as battle because Lakeview is a excellent football team and a very well-coached team,” Angle said. “Tom Pavlansky is probably the most underrated coach in Trumbull County.”

“I know that De’Veon had a great game and we were relying on him to have that kind of game, but our defense rose to the occasion and came up with enough big plays to help us pull out this victory,” he added.

What Angle was referring to was the fact that the Bulldogs jumped out to an early 7-0 lead on a 63-yard pass from Anthony Franco to Elijah Henderson. They then pulled off a successful onside kickoff and the first play Franco fired a 49-yard bomb to Michael Prindle, who was pulled down at the 1-yard line by defensive back Kenny Pozega.

The Tigers then came up with a goal line stand and forced the Bulldogs to attempt a 20-yard field goal, which was wide left.

“That stand and the interception by Andy Davis were the two plays that really turned this game around tonight,” Angle added.

Davis’ interception was a big one because the Tigers had opened the third quarter leading 14-7 and were driving for another score when Dan Russell caught a pass from Parano for a good gain, but fumbled and Austin Haines fell on it for the Bulldogs at their own 37.

On the first play Franco’s pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage and right into Davis’ arms and the senior scampered 48 yards down the sideline to put the Tigers up 21-7.

Another turnover forced by the Howland defense late in the third period when Toma Leveto fumbled and Davis recovered at the Lakeview 46 led to another Howland score on Smith’s 1-yard run.

Howland added a final score after the Bulldogs gambled on fourth down late in the contest and didn’t make the first down from their own 24-yard line. Parano capped that drive on a perfectly executed bootleg run from 17 yards out.

“You just can’t make mistakes against a good team like Howland,” said Pavlansky. “We didn’t get the ball into the end zone early in the game when we were at the 1 and then the turnovers were really costly in the second half.”