A heavy pregame shower had little effect on Dunbar’s fast paced offense. The Mighty Men got things going to earn a 36-14 Red Bird Conference victory over Lane Friday night at Lane Stadium.
Dunbar (3-3, 2-1 Red Bird) scored on a 24 yard pass from quarterback Demoria Harris to wide receiver Rayqwon Erving with 9:49 left in the first quarter. Lane (3-3, 1-2) promptly drove 65 yards in 13 plays and took its only lead of the game at 7-6 with 3:54 remaining in the first quarter. Dunbar took control late in the second quarter scoring two touchdowns on a one yard run by Jon Charles and a 28 yard touchdown reception from Harris to Erving, bringing the score to 22-7.
Charles scored his second touchdown of the game on a two yard run and Harris and Erving connected on their third touchdown for forty yards. Harris was eight of 16 for 189 yards and three touchdowns and gained 119 yards on 11 carries. Erving had six catches for 91 yards and three touchdowns.
Dunbar coach Glenn Johnson said his team was looking to bounce back after a tough loss to Curie.
“You don’t have a lot of time to lick your wounds in this conference,” said Johnson. “It is one game at a time. Next week it’s Simeon.”
Johnson said he was especially pleased with his team’s defense that limited Lane to 98 yards rushing and 57 yards passing. Jason Dawson, Datilion Kelly, Kiwand Brown and Jon Charles each had fumble recoveries for the Mighty Men’s defense.
“When they bring this effort and type of intensity, we can be a very good team,” said Johnson.
Lane coach Fred Proesel said the team’s defense and special teams played well, but the offense didn’t come to play and that’s the coach’s fault.
“Glenn is the dean of public league coaches and he does a fine job with his team and they were ready to play today,” said Proesel.
Ben Calpino scored a late touchdown for Lane on a 25 yard run.
Erving said a hard week of practice was all the motivation they needed.
“We wanted to give ourselves a fighting chance for the playoffs,” said Erving. “We were focused and we worked extra hard and it paid off.”
