New Kent becomes latest victim as Lafayette runs district win streak to 55 games

New Kent's Joey Campbell (5) and Adam Cable (12) try to prevent Lafayette's Dea'Mario Tyler from getting into the end zone in the first quarter.

Robb Johnson photo

New Kent’s Trojans invited Lafayette’s Rams to their home field Monday night for football action after Tropical Storm Michael forced a rescheduling of the contest. To New Kent, the game felt more like a full-fledged hurricane imposed by the visitors’ power and flexing their muscles.

Utilizing a ground game that racked up 315 rushing yards, Lafayette defeated the Trojans 44-7 in the Bay Rivers contest that saw the Rams run their consecutive district win streak to 55 games.

Lafayette threatened the hosts early, marching down to New Kent’s 27-yard line before an errant pass by Ram quarterback Zack New ended up in the hands of Trojan defensive back Hayden Smith, giving possession to the hosts.

A consistent rush by Lafayette defensive linemen made passing difficult for Trojan quarterback Brody Smith. An overthrown pass to senior back Evan Branch followed by a subsequent sack forced the hosts to punt the ball. Unfortunately, even special teams hurt New Kent, as a punt only went 15 yards and returned possession to the Rams in great field position. Lafayette didn’t squander the advantage, with New scoring on a quarterback sneak to lift the visitors up to 8-0.

Lafayette’s next possessions yielded similar results. A wide receiver reverse to Mike Rogers and scamper by tailback Vashod Phillip for 69 yards bestowed a 22-0 advantage for the guests. On New Kent’s next offensive possession, Rogers intercepted quarterback Brody Smith. Moments later, Rogers became the recipient of a 51-yard touchdown pass from New to give Lafayette a comfortable 30-0 advantage at the halftime intermission.

The Trojans lone highlight on offense came from Branch, who scored off an 80-yard tote at the beginning of the third to give the hosts what would amount for its lone score of the night. Meanwhile, Lafayette’s pressure held the Trojans to only 21 yards passing on the night, adding two scores in a second half to put the contest out of reach.

Trojan head coach John Fulks described the execution of his team after a disappointing night overall.

“I feel like they [Lafayette] had a good plan tonight and they brought seven men and played man-to-man,” he said, speaking on the Rams’ blitz attack. “When you bring zero coverage, you have to be able to exploit it and we were not able to tonight.

“We had some bad snaps, our protection broke down in some spots, and it truly killed some early drives even though our defense played well,” Fulks continued. “We had chances early, but we must find something to back up Evan Branch’s running game going forward.”

New Kent falls to 4-3 on the year and travels to Smithfield in its next contest with playoff implications on the line.