ROYAL CENTER, IN. – Call it execution. The Class 2A #9-ranked LaVille football team executed its first six possessions during Friday’s 47-8 high school football victory over Pioneer at The Pit. “The message was simple – Pioneer had never been beaten in an HNAC game on their home field since the conference began and we had never beaten them during the regular season,” explained LaVille coach Will Hostrawser. “We needed to execute our game plan at a high level in all three phases in order to change that.” The Lancers scored six straight times to open the game and take a 33-8 halftime lead. Scoring came from four different Lancers to get LHS off to a quick start. Lucas Plummer started the scoring with a 28-yard field goal after the Lancers moved the ball inside the Red Zone on the first possession of the game. Then after a Pioneer punt, the Lancers went on an 8-play, 59-yard drive to hit paydirt. Paul DeWitt took the ball the final four yards for the score and the Lancers were up 10-0. On Pioneer’s next possession, LaVIlle’s Collin Czarnecki dropped on a loose ball and the Lancers were in business again at the Panther 20-yard line. One play later, Plummer found Noah Richhart for a 20-yard TD strike. Richhart caught the ball inside the 10, lowered his shoulder, pulled a defender and dove to the goal line for the touchdown. Plummer came in for the point-after to make it 17-0 at the end of one quarter. The second quarter precision was much the same as LaVille went on another 8-play scoring drive. DeWitt found his way to the end zone for another 4-yard score. The key play in the drive was a fourth-and-5 conversion for the Lakeville visitors. Plummer connected with Ross Wagoner on the left side for a key 15-yard completion to the Pioneer four to give LHS a first-and-goal. “That play was Lucas reading the defense and throwing it to the open man – which happened to be Ross,” said Hostrawser. “Ross does a nice job running routes when a play calls for him to run them. He is a talented blocker as well as a receiver – he helps our offense in a lot of ways.” On the next possession, the LaVille defense forced Pioneer’s offense to the sidelines when Caleb Sweet’s pass was too high on a 4th-and-2 that fell incomplete. The LaVille offense kept the foot on the accelerator when Plummer opted to go long. The Lancer quarterback found Cody Allen wide open on the left sideline for a 45-yard scoring strike and a 30-0 lead. Pioneer would find a little momentum during a 15-play, 99-yard drive. Sweet, the Panther QB, completed three passes during the drive, including a big 4th-and-7 from the Lancer 38 to Cayden Hill to move the ball to the LHS 30. On the next play Rylahn Toloza packed bags on a 30-yard touchdown run. Sweet dove to the pylon on the 2-point conversion to narrow LaVille’s lead to 30-8. Plummer concluded the Lancer execution with a 33 field goal as the first half expired. “We have been very fortunate to have a history of solid kickers at LaVille,” Hostrawser said of his kicker. “Our back-up kicker – Brandon Nettrouer – would be the starting kicker at most schools. He did a fantastic job filling in for Lucas in week one against Bremen making all his PATs and kicking the ball deep during kickoffs. But Lucas Plummer is at another level. He has hit from 40+ regularly in practice and is starting to hit from 50 occasionally. Friday night, our field goal unit did a nice job executing field goals and PATs and Lucas came through for us. His kicks leave no doubt. About the 50 yard field goal, he has hit them before in practice and certainly has the leg to do so – so we decided to give it a go considering the down and distance we were facing. In high school football, if you attempt a field goal and the ball makes it at least to the endzone during a miss, the opponent gets the ball on their 20 yard line – so even though you miss a kick, you still gain something.” PHS opened with the ball to start the second half and things looked promising during a solid rushing attack. Hill, Toloza, and Brian Gluth combined to pick up gains to move the Panther offense inside LaVille territory. But the Lancer ‘D’ clamped down on 4th-and-1 from the 29, when Hill was stopped short of the line to gain. The Lancer defense came up big on the next possession when Jonathan Neese stepped in front of Sweet’s pass and cruised in from 20 yards out for a pick six. “Jonathan brings a nice spark to our defense,” said Hostrawser. “Even though he is a sophomore – he was out all last season with an injury – so he is still finding his way. As we progress through the weeks of the season, his knowledge of our scheme, his speed of play and his confidence have all increased. He made some big plays for us in the Triton game – this game he picked up right where he left off. His INT return for a TD shows his ability to make a big play.” Richhart closed the scoring on a 6-yard run with 5:01 left in the fourth to force the running clock mercy rule. DeWitt finished with 92 yards on 16 carries and two touchdowns. “We played well on defense early – but to Pioneer’s credit, they racked up over 180 yards on the ground and almost 100 in the air,” said Hostrawser. “As the game went on, I thought we showed signs of fatigue. Our pass coverage allowed numerous third and long conversions. We need to shore those things up in practice and execute them better on Friday nights. We misread keys causing us to miss some assignments. We need to do a better job of cycling guys in the game in order to keep our edge. That is all part of the process though and those are things we can work on as we go. We will all work together to improve in those areas.” Plummer completed 10-of-14 pases for 203 yards and 2 TDs. Richhart was the top receiver with 69 yards on four catches. Wagoner had two deflections, six tackles, and two tackles for loss. Xzavian LaFave had 10 tackles, Richhart 12 tackles, and Mason Stepp seven tackles. LaVille improves to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the HNAC race. The Lancers travel to Winamac on September 9. Pioneer falls to 1-2 overall and 1-1 in HNAC play. The Panthers conclude a three-game homestand against Caston also on September 9. LAVILLE 47, PIONEER 8 LaVille 17 16 7 7 – 47 Pioneer 0 8 0 0 – 8 Scoring Summary LV – Lucas Plummer 28 FG LV – Paul DeWitt 4 run; Plummer kick LV – Noah Richhart 20 pass from Plummer; Plummer kick LV – DeWitt 4 run; kick failed LV – Cody Allen 45 pass from Plummer; Plummer kick P – Rylahn Toloza 30 run; Caleb Sweet run LV – Plummer 33 FG LV – Johnathan Neese 20 interception return; Plummer kick LV – Richhart 6 run; Brandon Nettrouer kick LV P First Downs 19 11 Yards Rushing 182 181 Comp-Att-Int 10-14-0 7-15-1 Yards Passing 203 77 Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-1 Punts- Avg 1-29 2-39 Penalties-Yrd 4-37 2-15