The Lakewood Lancers continued their winning ways Friday night, remaining undefeated in Moore League play by defeating the visiting Jordan Panthers by a score of 25-0. Lakewood stands in first place with a 4-0 record (6-1 overall) while Jordan falls to 0-3 (1-6 overall).

USC-bound quarterback Jesse Scroggins (right) led the Lancer attack, throwing for 198 yards and 3 touchdowns on 11-19 passing. The 6-foot-4 Scroggins also ran for Lakewood’s final touchdown, a 2-yard sneak in the fourth quarter.

“I thought Jesse was real sharp tonight,” head coach Thadd MacNeal said of his quarterback. “It was just a matter of opportunities.”

Jordan didn’t allow the heavily-favored Lancers many chances in the first half, keeping the Lakewood offense off the field with two long drives – though they resulted in no Panther points.

Scroggins got off to a slow start, beginning 3-8 for 37 yards and an interception. But his rocket arm eventually found holes in the Jordan defense with two first half touchdown passes – a 26-yard bullet to Darius Powe and an 11-yard slant to Chris Davis.

Jordan ate up the clock and orchestrated two drives deep into Lakewood territory but could not convert them into points. Four first half penalties for 20 yards also hurt the Panthers, but a Lakewood penalty hurt Jordan the most, when a 3rd and goal facemask penalty on the Lakewood 18-yard line moved Jordan half the distance to the goal – the 9-yard line – and a repeat of third down. Jordan coaches argued for 15 yards and an automatic first down, but to no avail. A field goal attempt was missed a few plays later, and Jordan would get no closer to paydirt.

Lakewood led 12-0 at the half, and put the game away in the second half despite continued control of possession by Jordan. The Lancers scored when they were given chances to, with a 2-yard reception by Justin Utupo and Scroggins’ sneak a short time later. Scroggins completed his eleven passes to six receivers on the night, with gains of 26, 30, 36 and 57. His counterpart, Jordan senior quarterback Keith Nixon, threw for 31 yards on 6-10 attempts, and ran for 32 yards on 6 rushes. Jordan was relatively successful running the ball for a total of 103 yards.

“We’re running the ball fairly well, but we’ve obviously got to work on our passing game if we want to beat Compton,” said Jordan head coach Scott Meyer, whose team faces the 1-2 Tarbabes (3-3 overall) next Friday. His injury-plagued team – already missing reigning Player of the Year John Timu to an ACL tear – lost three linemen to knee injuries on Friday night, and Meyer isn’t sure of their status. Even missing some key players on both sides of the ball, Jordan played inspired defense and converted twice on fourth down in the long second quarter drive.

“Our guys aren’t going to lay down for anybody and they didn’t tonight,” he said.

MacNeal agreed and made sure to credit Meyer and the Panthers, but the Lancers were clearly the better team on Friday night. Lakewood is one of the highest rated teams in Southern California and many are choosing them to challenge for the CIF Championship. Defensively, junior lineman Todd Barr and Notre Dame-bound senior Utupo led an imposing charge that kept the Panthers from scoring, despite excellent field position on several drives. Lakewood held Jordan to five punts and a turnover-on-downs in the second half.

Still, MacNeal found plenty for his team to improve upon. Receivers dropped three balls, two of which popped up into the air and one of which was intercepted. The normally explosive Kevin Anderson also lost two fumbles on back-to-back punt returns in the fourth quarter. Lakewood is balanced and undoubtedly talented from top-to-bottom, but MacNeal is still working to extract his team’s full potential.

“It just shows that we’ve got a long way to go,” MacNeal said. “But our defense is tough as nails and they never give up, we’re real proud of them.”

All photos by Andrew Veis