Last Friday, Sept. 12, an American flag, hung from a local fire truck, overlooked Lafayette’s football stadium, reminiscent of the one mounted over the remains of the World Trade Center some 13 years prior.

The rain began to fall as both sides’ fans entered through the gates and would continue throughout most of the game.

Lafayette fans, mostly clad in patriotic red, white, and blue, encouraged a special moment of silence for the ones lost during the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Head coach Matt Klein explained that the Marquette-Lafayette rivalry added an extra atmosphere to the game.

“It’s a great rivalry, great environment, obviously both crowds were great,” he said. “The weather didn’t help with the crowds but our fans were here the whole time and that was great support by our school and our student body.”

But after all of the added atmosphere, there still was a game to be played.

The Mustangs kicked off to start the matchup.

The two teams traded punts and four-and-outs for the first couple of drives, but Lafayette would get a drive going after starting within the MHS 30-yard line.

After an incomplete pass on third and six, junior kicker Jake Reynolds’ 43-yard field goal would put the Lancers up 3-0 on the Mustangs with 8:34 left in the first quarter.

The Mustangs came right back.

After Charles Turner, senior, returned the kickoff to the Mustang 25, MHS’ drive continued after quarterback Jason Powers, junior, rolled out and tossed a first down pass to receiver Turner Cook, junior, to put them within LHS’ 35-yard line. Powers rolled out again and delivered a strike to tight end Charlie Kreh, senior, who coasted into the LHS end zone.

The Mustangs would lead the Lancers 7-3 with 4:20 left in the first, which despite the tightness of the game, would be their only lead of the night.

Lafayette marched back with a 2-yard touchdown pass of their own from quarterback Cameron Scales, senior, to Matt Waeckerle, senior, to put the Lancers up 10-7 on MHS.

Both sides punted back and forth until the Lancers got another drive going that was capped off by a four-yard touchdown run by Drake Dunker, senior, increasing Lafayette’s lead to ten.

Despite lining up in a normal kickoff formation, the Lancers surprised the Mustangs with an onside kick, and with 3:55 left in the half, Lafayette recovered and started with the ball. After an injury timeout and three minutes added to the clock for extra warm-ups, the Lancers took it from the 50-yard line.

A few incompletions led to Lafayette’s punt team taking the field, but on the snap, MHS was called for roughing the kicker and the Lancers retained possession.

After rushing and passing their way into the Mustangs’ 6-yard line, Lafayette’s drive was squelched when Jack Whitworth, senior, intercepted Scales’ pass and took it back to MHS’ 20.

At the half, the Lancers controlled a 17-7 lead over the Mustangs.

After a touchdown pass from Cameron Scales to brother Brendan Scales, junior, was called back for offensive pass interference, the Mustangs took over and amounted to an impressive drive with big runs by senior running backs Whitworth and Jacobi Boykin.On third and nine within the Lafayette 25-yard line, a Lancer rusher blindsided Powers and forced him to fumble.

The Lancers took over from their own 34 and within a few big plays, including a final touchdown pass from Scales to Scales, increased their lead to 17.

At the beginning of the fourth, MHS had the ball on their own 36 trailing Lafayette 7-24 but their drive didn’t amount to anything and the Mustangs were forced to punt it away again.

The momentum quickly changed when John Jackson, senior, intercepted Scales pass to put the Mustangs at the LHS 41. Powers capitalized on this opportunity, rolled out of the pocket and delivered a deep 35-yard ball to Cairon Wesley, junior, in the Lafayette end zone, decreasing the Lancers’ lead to ten with 8:24 left in the game.

Again Lafayette went for the pass, and again, the Mustangs intercepted it. Powers would then throw to put MHS inside the Lafayette 5-yard line, and Boykin drove the rest of the way in for the score, putting the Lancers’ lead to only three with 4:29 left in the game.

But Scales would march down the field and eventually keep it himself for a 43-yard touchdown run with 1:21 left in the game.

Despite a few completions for MHS, the Lancers would hold onto their 31-21 lead for the rest of the game.

Klein explained that the Mustangs’ passing game stepped up when the running game wasn’t there.

“We were able to throw the ball successfully whether that was late in the game when we were trying to mount a comeback or in the first couple drives when we were doing play action,” he said.

He added that the team needs prepare for next week after coming off two close losses to Jackson and Lafayette.

“It’s gut check time, a little bit, in terms of the fact that we’ve had two tough, close losses back to back and it’s one of those things that we have to decide where we want our season to go and I think our kids will pick it up this week at practice and get ready for Mehlville,” he said. “The only focus on our mind is moving on to Mehlville.”