Strong Panther Defense Falls 21-7 to Lafayette

Despite an early lead, Mehlville could not maintain any momentum in the second half as the Panthers lost at Lafayette, 21-7, on Friday night.

“We made some nice plays early on and did some good things, but we just let them back into the game too early,” said Mehlville coach Eric Meyer.

“They did a great job taking away the outside from our running backs. And we made some mistakes, too. We just needed to keep moving the chains, and we weren’t able to do that. You can’t just rely on one big play.”

Mehlville hoped to capitalize as the Lancers had to use quarterback Matt Goro in place of Dominic Bisesi, Lafayette’s star quarterback who broke his non-throwing arm at Lindbergh last week.

However, Goro just relied on tailback Deonte Robinson on the first play from scrimmage.

For about five seconds—just long enough for Robinson to find his seam on the left side and scamper 40 yards through the open field—all seemed well for Lafayette, until he was caught from behind, popping the ball onto the turf and giving Mehlville an opportunity. 

“I wasn’t really expecting it, and then I was hit from behind,” Robinson said, whose fumble led to a Mehlville recovery and subsequent touchdown. “But I had to recover from that and just wash it off. Got to keep on playing football.”

After the Mehlville recovery, the Panthers’ offense was quick and efficient in its 75-yard march back down the field. Tailback Dwayne Lewis pounded out two great runs of 29 and 14 yards, and fellow back Chayse Brown punched in the score from two yards out to give Mehlville the early 7-0 lead.

Mehlville linebacker Dan Kerckhoff kept the Panthers momentum going after intercepting a pass meant for William DuPont. His pick would have been returned for another score, but DuPont chased him down 80 yards and tackled him on the 10-yard line.

The Lafayette defense then stood stout, with Kevin Hampton’s sack on third down knocking Mehlville far enough back to lead to the Panthers missing the ensuing field-goal attempt. And from there, the Lancers slowly began grinding the Panthers down.

Robinson got his first trip to paydirt with 7:58 left in the half, tying the game 7-7 before halftime. He didn’t have to wait long into the second half for his next score. Though technically receiving the kickoff in the second half, Mehlville failed to retrieve the ball, as it plopped down onto the wet field. Lafayette’s Kirk Bradley raced up the sidelines and recovered it on the Mehlville 19. Robinson scored two plays later from 10 yards out.

His third touchdown was an 18-yard run later in the quarter, off a solid cutback in traffic, rounding out the 21-7 score.

Despite the efficiency from their opening drive, the Panthers struggled the rest of the game to move the ball. The Panthers’ ground attack between Lewis and Brown, though solid for the first two weeks, struggled to find running room at Lafayette.

Lafayette (3-0) remained undefeated and atop the Suburban West, with all three of its wins against conference foes. Mehlville fell to 1-2 on the season. 

Mehlville will face cross-town rival Oakville next week in Tigers territory.