Lima Senior’s Aiden Howard looks to get past Toledo Bowsher’s Tabari Triplett during Friday night’s game at Spartan Stadium.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
LIMA — Lima Senior came out in its National guard green camouflage uniforms.
And for most of the first half, the Spartans’ looked out of sync in their special uniforms.
But the Spartans scored 24 points in the third quarter and rolled past Bowsher 36-6 in the high school football opener for both schools Friday at Spartan Stadium.
The Lima Senior defense played well the entire opening half, led by second team all-state defensive end Anthony Mosley, who had a couple of sacks, a pass batted down and a blocked punt.
In all, the Spartans’ defense and special teams scored three times with Zaveon Garner scoring all three TDs.
Garner scored on an interception (13 yards), a blocked punt in the end zone and on a punt return (72 yards).
For the Spartans’ offense quarterback Aiden Howard completed 11 of 20 for 183 yards and two TDs.
Aaryion Manley had four catches for 92 yards, with TD catches of 37 and 27 yards.
Kaden Hampton had three catches for 51 yards.
On the ground, Demetruis Brown had 59 yards on three carries. Howard had 27 yards on 10 carries.
It was the defense that scored first for Lima Senior when Garner picked off a Simon Eze pass in the left flat and returned it 14 yards for a TD.
That gave the Spartans 6-0 lead with 3:24 left in the first half.
Bowsher went 70 yards in eight plays to tie the game a 6.
The big play on the drive was a scramble run by Eze for 27 yards. Fifteen more yards were tacked on to the play when a Lima Senior defender hit Eze clearly out of bounds for a personal foul.
That gave Bowsher a first down at the Lima Senior 18.
Eze hit Jeremy Edwards with a short pass to the left side for a 9-yard TD to tie the game at 6.
That came with 34 seconds left in the first half.
Lima Senior then went 52 yards in two plays to grab the lead before the end of the half.
First, Howard connected with Garner for 20 yards to take the ball to the Bowsher 37.
Howard then hit Manley perfectly in stride with a fly pass down the right side and Manley easily cruised to a 37-yard TD.
That gave Lima Senior a 12-6 lead with 10 seconds left in the half.
The first half was dominated by flags, as each team had eight penalties.
For the Spartans, the offense is a work in progress after graduation took every starting running back and wide receiver from last year.
Howard does return at quarterback and he completed 8 for 14 for 129 yards at the half.
At the half, Bowsher’s Eze had run six times for 60 yards and thrown for 60.
For the game, Eze 13 of 17 for 67 yards. He also ran for 48 yards on nine carries.
Mosley came up with two big plays early in the third quarter.
First, he sacked Bowsher quarterback Eze for 8 yards at the Bowsher 15.
Then, two plays later, Mosley blocked a Bowsher punt in the end zone.
Garner recovered the ball in the end zone for the Spartans’ TD.
That pushed the Spartans’ lead to 20-6 with 7:04 left in the third.
Garner scored his third TD of the night when he returned a punt 72 yards for a score to give Lima Senior a 28-7 lead with 2:58 left in the third.
Howard hit Manley with a 27-yard TD pass to cap off the Spartans’ scoring at 36-6 with 30 seconds left in the third quarter.
Reach The Lima News sports department at 567-242-0451.
