By BOB ETTINGER

sports@vindy.com

CORTLAND

The Lakeview football team did exactly what every coach asks of his team on its first possession. The Bulldogs played physical, marched down the field and put the ball in the end zone. It was a sign of good things to come in a 31-0 victory over Jefferson on Friday night at Don Richards Memorial Stadium.

Evan Adair scored those first points on fourth-and-goal from the 3 to cap an eight-play drive that spanned the opening 3:14 of the first quarter.

“That was huge,” Lakeview coach Tom Pavlansky said. “We’ve got to capitalize there. We wanted to punch it in and set the tone right away. The offensive line got off the ball, we handed it off to Evan and he got in from the 3.”

As it turned out, those were all the points the Bulldogs (5-1, 3-0 in All-American Conference White Tier) needed. Jefferson netted just 151 yards of offense and didn’t come close to putting the ball in the end zone.

“They’re a good football team,” Jefferson coach Jimmy Henson said. “They’ve got some good guys up front. They’re well-coached. We’re a little short-handed tonight. We had two guys in new positions. The kids fought hard, but that was tough to overcome. They did what we thought they’d do. They have good linebackers and they put some pressure on us. They made it difficult to get anything going up inside.”

The Falcons (1-5, 1-3) did move to the Lakeview 46 on their first possession, but were forced to punt. Lakeview answered with a 28-yard field goal from Noah Busefink for a 10-0 edge heading into the second period.

“We had a really good week of practice,” Pavlansky said. “The kids were focused. They were in the game and they ran to the ball well. [Jefferson] poses a challenge in [quarterback] J.J. [Henson] being a dual threat. We had to be aware of where he was and what he was doing. The kids were locked in. I’m really proud of the effort. They were in the right spots, rallied to the ball well and attacked it well.”

After trading punts, Jefferson faced a fourth-and-1 from its own 35. The Bulldogs snuffed out an attempt at a fake and forced the turnover on downs.

“I thought if we got it going, we’d be right back in it,” Henson said. “Give them credit. They did an excellent job defending it.”

Lakeview scored on its next three possessions — all with 6:23 or less remaining in the half.

“They did it before from what we saw in our film study,” Pavlansky said. “We were conscious of where J.J. was. Tony [Crish] made the play, I think, but it was all 11 guys on the defense. They rallied to the ball well. We were prepared. They were ready for that and had the chance to make a play and they made the play.”

Adair caught a 32-yard strike from Zach Rogers two plays after the stop to make it 17-0 in favor of the Bulldogs with 5:38 to play in the half. He then scored on a 6-yard run with 1:58 remaining to make it 24-0. With 14 seconds left, Rogers hit Connor Greenwood for a 42-yard score.