Commodores run away from Ridgemont

PERRY TOWNSHIP - He didn't need a gaping hole to run through.

However, there were many times that Perry running back Korey Lane did see a lot of daylight in front of him.

Lane rushed for 257 yards on 11 carries to help lead Perry (3-4, 2-2 Northwest Central Conference) to a 69-0 whitewashing of visiting Ridgemont on Friday night. Teammate John Turner added 91 yards on seven touches, while Tanner Hunt rushed for 78 yards on 11 carries.

Lane entered the game with 1,159 yards rushing this season. Now, Lane has rushed for more than 1,400 yards with three regular season games remaining.

As a team, the Commodores rushed for 512 yards and passed for 109. Shane Cockerell caught four passes for 98 of those yards.

Defensively, Perry was stingy, holding Ridgemont (0-7) to 94 yards of total offense.

Perry coach Andy Etzkorn said his team has not had any trouble of running the football this season.

"In most of our losses, we've outgained our opponents," Etzkorn said. "But, special teams have been an Achilles heel this season.

"Korey has had a great year. But, he would be the first one to tell you that the offensive line has been a big part of that. Our offensive line has really improved in the past couple of weeks."

Perry got off to quick start, scoring on its first two possessions of the game. Perry's first score came by way of some trickery, when Lane took a pitch from quarterback Justin Hyde and then threw a pass to Cockerell for a 39-yard scoring strike on their first possession of the game.

On Perry's next possession, Hyde capped off a 5-play, 55-yard scoring drive with a 2-yard run.

Lane would blow it wide open in the second quarter as he had TD runs of 80 and 45 yards.

Lane carried the football just three times in the second half as he gave way to Turner and Hunt for most of the groundwork. One of Lane's carries, however, was a 52-yard TD run on a fake punt.

"We had to overcome some adversity," Etzkorn said. "We had some injuries and some guys out with disciplinary situations. So, we had just 21 kids tonight."

In the second half, Turner scored a touchdown in the third quarter. Cockerell ran for two TDs, while Hyde and Shawn Deal each added a score.