Lakers Trounce Eagles Behind Balanced Offensive Effort

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Roosevelt made sure to spread the ball around Saturday as it cruised to a 56-28 win over Judson in a Mid-States Football Association Midwest League contest at Morris Field.

Carson Budke and the first-team offense did its job for the Lakers (6-3, 4-0 MSFA Midwest) by scoring a touchdown on all six possessions. None of the drives last more than four minutes as Roosevelt quickly built a 42-14 lead at halftime behind Budke's four passing touchdowns and a pair of rushing scores from Jerrell Calhoun. The Lakers racked up 291 yards of total offense on those six touchdown drives before kneeling on two plays to end the first half.

The Lakers began the game by forcing a quick 3-and-out from the Eagles then Budke went to work completing three of his four passes on the opening drive. His last pass was a 17-yard touchdown to Jacob Biddle to give Roosevelt a lead a little more than three minutes into the game. Stacey Terry set up the Lakers in excellent field position by intercepting a deflected pass to end Judson's second drive. Calhoun ran the ball three straight times before Budke found a wide open Keonta Nixon for the touchdown from 19 yards out.

Budke completed a hat trick of first-quarter passing touchdowns with a 16-yard connection to Roderick Gaskins after completing two 20-plus-yard passes earlier in the drive. After another 3-and-out from Judson, the Lakers spanned the quarter break to score a fourth touchdown, this one a 5-yard run for Calhoun. A third 3-and-out for the Eagles quickly gave the Lakers the ball, and Budke delivered a fourth passing touchdown to a fourth different receiver, this one a 12-yard toss to Diego Vela for his first career touchdown on his first career reception.

Calhoun finished the scoring in the first half with a one-yard touchdown plunge after getting tripped up at the 1-yard line on a screen pass from Budke. The senior finished with 74 yards on 11 carries, all in the first half, and set up his second score with a 20-yard rush earlier in the drive. Budke completed 14 of his 17 passes for 202 yards and the four scores before the entire first-team offense was rested in the second half.

Luke Wilson led the second-string offense on a scoring drive to open the second half, converting a fourth down inside the red zone to set up David Willis' three-yard score. Wilson also ended the game with a scoring drive, leading the Lakers 14 yards in four plays for an 11-yard touchdown pass to Gaskins, who led the team with four catches for 57 yards.

Corties Draper led the Lakers' defensive effort with eight tackles and had a quarterback hurry as well. Kiondray Samelton had three of Roosevelt's nine pass breakups while Ryan Hatter had a sack and Jordan Payne teamed up with Charlie Brooks for the Lakers' other sack.  

The Lakers will enjoy a bye next week before hosting No. 15 Saint Xavier at 2 p.m. on Nov. 11 in what will be a de-facto MSFA Midwest championship game.