Trailing 14-7 at halftime, Lexington head football coach Stewart Young had no doubt his team would come back and win. 

“I told them at halftime, ‘We’re going to win this game. How hard do you want to make it?”’ Young said. 

The Wildcats made it fairly easy on themselves, taking the lead in the third quarter before burying the Timberwolves in the fourth. Lexington outscored White Knoll 31-0 in the final two frames to earn the team’s first region win of the season. 

By beating the Timberwolves, the Wildcats have won five of their last six games. 

“What we’ve been all year is resilient,” Young said. “Very proud of them.”

Shannon Lytes played a huge role in Lexington’s second-half surge. He had three touchdowns and ran for over 200 yards. 

This was Lytes most productive game this season and the second time he ran for over 100 yards. 

“It’s his time,” Young said. “He’s been waiting in the wings, so to speak, for two years, and now, he had his night, and he took advantage of it.” 

Shaun Lloyd scored the two White Knoll touchdowns. 

Both teams went scoreless in the first quarter, but Lexington scored a touchdown less than two minutes into the second to go up 7-0. A long rush from Lytes set up quarterback Easton Crocker for the one-yard score. 

White Knoll put points on the board on the following drive to tie the game again. The Timberwolves found success in the second quarter running out of the Wildcat formation. The team played three different players at the quarterback spot, including Lloyd. 

“They hadn’t had that on tape, and they did a great job,” Young said. 

The Timberwolves defense helped set up the next score after picking off Crocker in Lexington territory. A few plays later, Lloyd ran it in for a two-yard score. 

White Knoll had an opportunity to go into the break in an even stronger position, picking Crocker off for a second time. However, a penalty on the interception return put the team in bad field position, and the clock reached zero before the drive concluded. 

Things did not turn south for White Knoll until the end of the third. 

Lexington started the half with a field goal to cut the lead to four, but White Knoll’s following drive looked promising. 

The Timberwolves returned the kickoff just shy of midfield and, after a few small gains, popped off a big run to get the ball inside Lexington’s 25. 

Two runs netted just a single yard, and a pre-snap penalty had the team facing a third-and-15 just inside the 30. An incomplete pass on third down set up fourth down and a crucial decision for the Timberwolves’ coaches. 

Instead of attempting a field goal to go back up seven, White Knoll opted to go for a first down to extend the drive. Lexington’s defense stayed disciplined pre-snap and stood firm to force an incompletion and give the ball back to its offense. 

Lytes scored his first touchdown on the next drive from six yards to put Lexington up again. 

The Timberwolves' offensive mistakes started to kick in on the next possession as the ball was fumbled on the first play and recovered by Lexington. 

Lytes scored again as Lexington started the drive inside the red zone. The lead would only grow to nine after the point-after kick was blocked. 

White Knoll got the ball back, looking for life but found none. The first play of the fourth quarter was the Timberwolves punting the ball back to Lexington. Lytes then got his third score to put the Wildcats up 31-14. 

Lexington’s final score in the game came from its defense. Caleb Schrodt put an exclamation point on the game as he returned an interception for six. 

The Wildcats are now 5-3 this season and 1-1 in 5A Region 4 play. White Knoll fell to 1-6 overall and 0-1 in region play with the loss. 

White Knoll will be back on their home field next week to host Chapin. 

Lexington will get a long-awaited bye and travel to Chapin on the other side. 

“It’s been a long grind, two months of straight games, and I haven’t ever done that in my career,” Young said. “Anxious to just get some of that stress and pressure off the guys, and hopefully, get healthy.” 

Last week’s top performances 

Corey Miller had 110 receiving yards and two touchdowns as Dutch Fork beat Chapin.

BJ Suits had four total touchdowns as Northside Christian improved to 8-0 this season. 

Dee Coleman ran for three touchdowns in Batesburg-Leesville’s win over Clear Dot Charter. 

Kendall Wright had three touchdowns for Gilbert in a win over Brookland-Cayce. 

This week’s games to watch 

Dutch Fork vs. River Bluff

White Knoll vs. Chapin

Gray Collegiate vs. Blythewood

Swansea vs. Lower Richland

Lexington County scoreboard

Dutch Fork: 21, Chapin: 8

Lexington: 38, White Knoll: 14

Sumter: 72, Gray Collegiate: 30

Irmo: 38, South Aiken: 14

Lower Richland: 35, Airport: 12

Gilbert: 28, Brookland-Cayce: 15

Strom Thurmond: 64, American Leadership: 0

Saluda: 42, Pelion: 0

Batesburg-Leesville: 48, Clear Dot Charter: 0

Northside Christian: 28, Cardinal Newman: 0