Coming off of last week's emotional road win over the Green Bulldogs, the Lake Blue Streaks were due for an early letdown. The thought of such will not occur anytime soon.

Scoring on their first five of eight possessions, the Blue Streaks turned a 7-0 first quarter advantage into a 53-7 conquest of the visiting A.B. Lucas Vikings to christen the new turf at Alumni Field at Lake Blue Streaks Stadium and push their record to 2-0 on the season.

With their win, the Blue Streaks now turn their sights to Canton McKinley, who at press time was facing off against Indianapolis Cathedral in the Kirk Herbstreit Ohio vs. USA football challenge. Head coach Jeff Durbin is well aware of his team's history against the Bulldogs dating back to the 2004 season.

Despite the win, Durbin wants to see his team eliminate the miscues they had in reference to botched snaps retrieved by the Vikings along with three missed extra-point attempts. He knows that such mistakes against overmatched teams can slide but once league play opens up, it is a different story.

The Blue Streaks punishing running game was bolstered by sophomore running back Jim Luther. And in seven plays, he showed why the depth of that position is in fortuitous shape as he broke loose for an early 18-yard run to send a message of what the opening drive would consist of. His two-yard touchdown burst put the hosts on the scoreboard first and Logan Martin's extra-point kick made the score 7-0, having spanned 66 yards.

Luther's play in the first half impressed Durbin, who also praised the offensive line for their work in the trenches against the Vikings defensive line.

"Jim has a lot of football skills and he did a good job tonight. Our offensive line did a great job of run blocking and when we are doing well, we can run the ball," he said.

The second quarter visibly belonged to Lake. Scores from quarterback Ryan Christiansen courtesy of a 50-yard run along with a 39-yard pass to Andrew Oravec including touchdown runs by Oravec and Jarrod Wendorf extended the bulge to a 34-0 lead at intermission.

Lake had the football for only four possessions but those were the ones that were imperative and as the season progresses, those are the kind of ball ownership that Durbin will be looking at.

"You know to be honest, we kind of expected that tonight. In the first quarter though we were sloppy at times but we were able to score some points in the second quarter," he said.

A.B. Lucas opened up the first series of the second half with a drive that took 5:59 off the clock and ended with a Brent Miller touchdown run and John Petrella's extra-point kick were the only points Lake yielded all evening as they retaliated with a 19-point fourth quarter with a touchdown pass by quarterback Mason Stephens and a short run by quarterback Logan Wartman and a defensive touchdown in the form of a 33-yard interception return by Dan Reed to conclude the scoring for the evening.

Lake then turned their sights to Canton McKiney, a team whom they defeated 24-6 last season at Fawcett Stadium. Durbin expects his team to be facing an angry Bulldogs team that is determined to prove that last season's setback was an aberration.

But Durbin wants his team to shore up their deficiencies well before that showdown, knowing such mistakes can eventually lead to disaster if the game is close let alone the rest of the season.

"First off,  we need to get better by next week for our league opener. We must play well over there and then have a chance to win it in the end," he said with an edge in his voice.
Lake was due for an early letdown but the thought of it did not occur tonight in the confines of Alumni Field at Lake Blue Streaks Stadium.