Video Interview - Lake Taylor's Hank Sawyer 27-20 win at Norview
For the second straight year, the Lake Taylor Titans overcame a second half deficit against Norfolk rival Norview and defeated the Pilots, doing so on the road by a count of 27-20 on Saturday afternoon in front of a large crowd.
Lake Taylor, which improved its record to 3-1 overall, has now won 36 consecutive Eastern District games, denying Norview (3-2) its first win over the Titans since 2001.
Though out-gained by the Pilots 388-280 on the afternoon, Lake Taylor came up with three crucial red zone stops - the final one coming late in the fourth quarter with Norview looking for a game-tying touchdown when senior cornerback Terique Minor intercepted a pass to ice the victory.
Norview was 0 of 5 on fourth down tries with Titans senior linebacker Raeshawn Griffin coming up with a key tackle when the Pilots were inside the five-yard line. Senior defensive lineman Roman Bond also sacked Pilots QB D.J. Mack, the Tidewater area's leading passer coming into the contest, on a pivotal 4th-and-Goal in the second half. Bond finished with 11 tackles and two sacks.
Two of Lake Taylor's marquee names on defense - Notre Dame commit Darnell Ewell and James Madison commit Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey - made huge plays as well. Ewell forced a fumble in the fourth quarter that was recovered by Tucker-Dorsey, whose 67-yard touchdown reception off a screen pass tied the game with 7:27 remaining in the third period.
We caught up with Hank Sawyer, who's now 162-44 overall as Lake Taylor's Head Footbal Coach, following the thrilling win. That Video Interview is embedded above and can be seen at the link below as well.
Watch Video Interview with Lake Taylor Coach Hank Sawyer Here
Matthew Hatfield has covered football and basketball since 2004 for VirginiaPreps.com, part of the Rivals.com Network, and is a staff writer for Tar Heel Illustrated. Check out Hatfield’s Twitter page for more sports related updates, and you can also read his work in the Suffolk News Herald. To contact Matthew, please e-mail hatfieldsports2k4@yahoo.com, and don’t forget to listen to him every Saturday at 10 AM on ESPN Radio 94.1.