Loris capitalizes on second-half turnovers to run away from Green Sea Floyds

Loris needed a break to go its way.

Green Sea Floyds provided more than one.

The Lions benefited from several second-half turnovers to score 25 unanswered points after halftime en route to a 31-6 win over the Trojans on Friday night.

Prior to the break, Loris was locked in a 6-all tie against a team it had blown out in recent years.

“We didn’t take advantage of the offensive possessions we had in the first half,” Lions coach Jamie Snider said. “They did a good job stopping us.

“… We were able to come up with some plays in the second half.”

Green Sea Floyds turned the ball over four times, three on fumbles and one on an interception. Once the Trojans lost the momentum in the second half, the game started to spiral out of control.

“I think the two things were that our defense was able to get some turnovers and our offense was able to capitalize when we got those turnovers,” Snider said. “Once we got that going and our defense got a couple-touchdown lead, confidence breeds confidence. I was proud of the way our kids played in the second half.”

Once again, the Trojans’ time-of-possession approach on offense served it well. Green Sea Floyds limited Loris’ chances on offense in the first half to play to a draw early.

However, the Lions have experience against such an approach as two of their region opponents, Aynor and Marion, enact a similar strategy.

“What it does – and it’s very interesting – is it puts pressure on the offense from the standpoint that you have to make the most out of the possessions that you do get,” Snider said. “If you don’t take advantage of the possessions you do have, you’ll be limited in how may times you get the ball. It will lead to a tight game.

“They did a good job with their game plan tonight and it kind of stifled us for a little while and there you go, there you go.”

Quarterback Ta’Jay Williams was 9-for-11 for 178 yards and a touchdown through the air and Hakeen Jackson, Williams and Demtri Wilburn each scored on the ground for Loris. Desmond Dozier had five catches for 85 yards and touchdown for the Lions, who are entering their bye week.

Snider believes his team still has plenty of work to do, and Friday night’s game highlighted much of that.

“I think first and foremost you want to focus on fundamentals – blocking and tackling and executing and those kind of things,” he said. “We had a lot of penalties tonight, which we haven’t been doing. We need to go back and focus on basic fundamentals. We have lots of things we need to improve on. We’re a young team and we’ve been getting better each week and that’s our goal.”

Green Sea Floyds’ Henry Moody ran 21 times for 108 yards, becoming the Trojans’ fourth different running back to run for 100-plus yards in as many weeks.

This story was originally published September 12, 2015 at 1:27 AM with the headline "Loris capitalizes on second-half turnovers to run away from Green Sea Floyds."