The Eastern Hancock Royals ran into a buzz-saw Friday night and it was wearing No. 3.
Lapel’s Will Jones rushed for 197 yards and three touchdowns while the Royals could get very little going on offense as Eastern Hancock fell on the road in the regular season finale, 42-14.
Tailback Devin Denny, coming off a big day a week ago, could never find any room against a swarming Bulldog defense. Denny was held to just seven yards rushing in the first half while the Royals were forced to take to the air.
Jarret Lewis completed 9 of 17 passes in the first half for 121 yards, but was intercepted twice by Lapel senior Andrew Hunt.
The Royals did move the ball on their opening possession. Lewis found AJ Muegge for a 30-yard pickup to reach midfield. But a pair of holding penalties slowed the drive before Lewis was sacked on a fourth down conversion attempt.
Lapel scored on each of their six first half possessions and held a commanding 40-0 halftime advantage.
Eastern Hancock did outscore the Bulldogs 14-2 in the second half. Lewis found Luke Splater for an eight-yard touchdown pass with 2:14 left in the third quarter and later hit Muegge for a 37-yard pass play late in the fourth quarter that completed the scoring.
Lewis completed 15 of 34 passes on the night for 216 yards with the two first half interceptions and two second half scores.
Denny, who rushed for over 200 yards last week at Lucas Oil Stadium against Shenandoah was held to just 28 yards on 15 carries in Lapel. Muegge finished the night with seven receptions for 88 yards and a touchdown.
Eastern Hancock will host Centerville to begin sectional action Friday with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m.
