The Lakewood v. Gibbs football game every year is a source of rivalry and malice. Whether played at the Spartan field or the Gladiators, it always gets rowdy.

The game this year was held at the Gibbs field on Friday (9/10), and Lakewood overpowered Gibbs in almost every aspect of the game, with a final score of 52-6, Spartans.

The Gladiators, however, outshone the Spartans in one aspect: running. Running back Sammy Miller ran a spectacular game, scoring Gibbs’ only touchdown. The Gibbs players were able to outmaneuver the Lakewood defensive line, but they didn’t get very far as Lakewood was able to control them after about five yards.

And the Spartan passing defense was ridiculously subduing to the Gibbs offense. The Spartans forced four interceptions, three of which were caught by senior Terrell Crosby, one converted to a touchdown.

But while holding the Gibbs offense to a mere six points, Lakewood also scored 52. Junior quarterback Anthony Colendrea threw the ball everywhere. He connected to over four receivers and had seven passing touchdowns. Crosby also had two offensive touchdowns, adding to his one defensive one.

The Lakewood receivers were able to produce so many yards after catch. There were some awe-inspiring plays, including one in the second quarter by Crosby that included spinning a Gibbs player on his back.

“Put that in your newspaper, No. 5 just got spun on his butt,” trainer Reilly Webb said.

The Lakewood team also responded very well to last week’s game against Palmetto, when four starting players were badly injured, including kicker Nate Sosa-Jones, a junior. (For more information click here to see the recap on that game.)

Without a kicker, Lakewood was left to rely on one of their most athletic players, Amari Niblack, or “Jurassic” to the team. He punted and kicked off; however, the Spartan offense was very attentive to scoring two-point conversions instead of extra points.

“Of course, we miss (Sosa-Jones); you can’t just replace a guy like that,” head coach Cory Moore said.

Overall, this was a good win for the Spartans after the depressing injury-filled game last week.

“We did a good job of working together, a very collective win,” Moore said.