The Raleigh Lions put together a dominating performance at home against the McLaurin Tigers en route to a 35-7 victory. The win gives Coach Collums and his squad a 2-1 record in district competition and an opportunity to earn home playoff game in consecutive seasons.
After a sack and forced fumble that was scooped up by junior defensive back L.J. Johnson, the Lions offense went to work, establishing a strong rushing attack from their opening drive. That drive ended with a 12-yard touchdown run by Margo Perkins, who had an extremely memorable performance to lead his team to victory. The sophomore found the end zone again early in the second quarter to give the home team a two-touchdown lead.
Determined to compete, McLaurin responded with a six-minute, 66-yard touchdown drive and an extra point to narrow the deficit to 12-7 going into halftime. The Tigers capitalized on an opportunity to move the ball with a key absence on Raleigh’s defensive front in senior Sherpaul Boykin, but Collums says a risky change in the defensive game plan paid off in the second half.
“After we lost Sherpaul, we were kind of light in the britches up front, and they were pushing us around a little,” said Collums. “But at halftime we made some changes and kind of went away from what I came out wanting to do, and I thought we did a pretty good job of slowing them down in the second half.”
The Lions took firm control of the scoreboard in the third quarter with rushing scores on their first two drives by Margo Perkins and Cameron Delk. Early in the fourth, Perkins delivered the finishing blow when he caught a screen pass from Zedric Keyes and electrified the crowd by juking and jiving his way to a 74-yard touchdown reception.
“Margo is just getting better and better each week,” said Collums. “The scary thing is he’s just a sophomore. We see these things at practice all the time, and I’m glad people are getting a chance to see what he can do now on Friday nights.”
Perkins racked up 222 all purpose yards — 87 rushing, 74 receiving and 61 returning — and scored four touchdowns in the Lions’ convincing victory over their district foes. Senior Braxton Burkett carried the ball nine times for 86 yards, and fellow senior Cameron Delk collected 50 yards and a touchdown on just four carries.
The Lions joined Velma Jackson as the only two teams in Region 6-3A to have two wins over region opponents. Raleigh will play their final home game of the regular season next Friday night against St. Andrews Episcopal. A win over the Saints would put the Lions in position to compete for a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the playoffs in their season finale on the road versus Velma Jackson.
