David Yancey leads Lake Central to rout of Portage
By Candace Buckner Post-Tribune correspondent August 31, 2012 11:52PM
Lake Centrals offense congratulates Brandon Scott after scoring a touchdown at Portage Highs School on Friday August 31, 2012. | Jim Karczewski~for Sun-Times Media
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Updated: October 2, 2012 6:13AM
PORTAGE — Senior David Yancey played the quarterback position Friday night like he had never abandoned it to become Lake Central’s running back.
Thrown under center out of necessity in the Duneland Athletic Conference opener, Yancey scored four touchdowns in Lake Central’s 40-17 rout over Portage.
Yancey, a Purdue recruit as a running back who actually played quarterback last season, returned to his roots as starting signal-caller Alec Olund served a one-game suspension stemming from an on-field altercation in the team’s win over East Chicago last week.
Initially, Yancey and the Lake Central (3-0) offense sputtered — a couple botched center-quarterback exchanges and even a fumble on his first snap of the game — but revved up with the running game. Yancey finished with 17 carries and 221 yards and scored on runs of 41, 33, 76 and 1 yards, respectively.
“We started off slow but our O-line started picking it up and our defense started making plays,” Yancey said. “They got it together after the first quarter.”
Behind the relentless run attack — mainly Yancey, senior Riley Aranitis and Brandon Scott ticked over the 360-yard mark — the team scored 26 unanswered points through the second quarter to take a commanding halftime lead over Portage (1-2). At that point, coach Wally McCormack’s team had three points as well as three lost fumbles.
“It was a Duneland Conference game,” McCormack said. “We didn’t do a good job of taking care of the ball. This game is really pretty simple — most of the time, you get what you deserved. The team that deserved to win, won.”
Although Portage opened the second half with junior quarterback Gage Pearman punctuating a 13-play, 62-yard drive with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Cody Maldonado, Lake Central deflated that momentum. Just two plays into his drive, Yancey ripped the Portage defense for a 76-run up the middle and sealed the win.
“We were really counting on him this game because we had a couple guys who were out,” Lake Central coach Brett St. Germain said. “So David definitely stepped up and had a great game.”
