THURSDAY PREPS: Lanier bounces back with big second-half effort to top Lee

Lanier’s Corey Haigler run around the left end in the Poets’ win over Lee at Cramton Bowl on Thursday. (Tim Gayle)

By GRAHAM DUNN

The Sidney Lanier Poets found the offense they could have used a week ago in the loss to Opelika and got key plays on defense to earn a 20-6 win over inner-city rival Robert E. Lee on Thursday at Cramton Bowl.

Last week, in a 24-7 loss, Lanier was held to just 47 yards of offense in the second half.

But offensive production in the second half was the difference for the Poets on Thursday.

The Poets got 102 yards on 27 carries from Tacaris Bozeman and just four completed passes from quarterback Braylon Jones with two of those for touchdowns in the second half to win in the series for the first time since 2017.

The two teams played to a scoreless tie until the final seconds of the first half when Lanier got a 2-yard run for a score to give the Poets a 6-0 advantage.

That held up until early in the third period Lanier fumbled the second-half kickoff to the Generals. Three plays later, Ju Ju Johnson scored on a 9-yard run but was called for an unsportsmanlike penalty for spiking the ball in the end zone, meaning the extra point try was from 30 yards, which was missed.

Lanier took the lead for good with 3:39 left in the third quarter on Jones’ first touchdown pass, 11 yards, to Zariah Marks. The score was set up with a third down pass from Jones to Marks for 25 yards to keep the drive alive.

The Generals turned the ball over on an interception by Lanier’s Terrance Watkins, who returned the ball to the Lee 33-yard line. Jones followed with his second touchdown pass of the game, hitting Rawkeeb Dauda from 7-yards out for the final margin.

Jones missed on his first five pass attempts but completed his last four and finished with 59 yards. He added 37 yards rushing on five attempts.

The Lee offense was stifled for most of the night, gaining just 200 yards in total offense. Jakel Williams had 91 yards passing on 7 of 13 attempts. Johnson had 93 yards rushing on 14 attempts.

Lanier forced three turnovers in the game.

The Poets improved to 3-1, 1-1 in Class 6A, Region 2 while Lee fell to 2-1 and 1-1 in region play. The Poets  take on Valley next Saturday at Cramton Bowl while Lee travels to Russell County.