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Plano turns away Lakeview, 35-18

Posted on 28. Aug, 2010 by Brian Porter in '10 Fall Season

Connor Michelsen passed for three touchdowns and rushed for a fourth Friday as Plano defeated Garland Lakeview, 35-18, at John Clark Stadium in front of a capacity home crowd.

Connor Michelsen passed for three touchdowns and rushed for another Friday as Plano won its fifth season opener in the past six seasons. / Thad Fenton

Plano (1-0) has won its season opener in five of the past six seasons. It meets Irving MacArthur, the only team since 2005 to defeat it in a season opener, at 7:30 p.m. next Friday at John Clark Stadium.

Michelsen paired with Brandon Hamilton on the big play through the air and Kevin Merrill did enough on the ground to keep Lakeview honest. Michelsen completed 10 of 18 passes for 209 yards, including a pair of touchdown passes to Hamilton and another to Clayton Parlin. Merrill had 118 yards rushing as Hamilton turned in 157 yards receiving on five catches.

But it looked like déjà vu early. For consecutive seasons, Plano could only watch as the opening snap from scrimmage resulted in a long score to put it in an early hole in the opening game on the schedule.

But it responded quickly and used a big fourth quarter to put Lakeview away. Parlin scored on a 28-yard pass completion from Michelsen just 53 seconds into the fourth quarter and Hamilton’s second touchdown put the game out of reach with 6:42 left. In between the scores, Michelsen followed a 63-yard Merrill run with a 2-yard score.

"Big Play" Ben Laures proved he's a ball hawk on special teams Friday, blocking a punt on Lakeview's second series. / Thad Fenton

But the opener didn’t come without some hitches, like losing four fumbles on offense and dropping what appeared to be at least three sure interceptions. It finished the game minus-two in the takeaway category.

Hamilton gave Plano the big play in the first half. Michelsen found him on a post pattern and the senior did the rest on a 50-yard touchdown combination to give Plano a 14-6 lead with 6:07 elapsed in the game. He also had a 45-yard reception late in the first half, then came a few more hitches it will look to correct this week. Plano was unable to turn the redzone opportunity into points, one of two final offensive series in the first half that ended in fumbles. The series prior to those began at Lakeview’s 29 and didn’t produce points.

Kevin Merrill got the season started with a 100-yard game despite sharing the backfield Friday with Murat Kuzu and Rakeem Crawford. / Thad Fenton

Lakeview stayed within one score at halftime with a big play of their own when Davonta Black found Jarvis Baxter on a 33-yard touchdown strike with 2:03 remaining. A failed conversion pass following the touchdown proved to be the difference, 14-12, at halftime.

Ben Laures wasted little time before he picked up where he left off last season. He blocked a punt on Lakeview’s second series of the game when he jumped and stopped the ball and a split second later caught it. He landed and rumbled in for a 7-yard touchdown return and Plano led, 7-6.

About half of Lakeview’s offense and points in the first half came on the first offensive snap of the game.

Davonta Black made a nifty move away from a defender jumping to block a pass attempt when he recognized a gaping hole in the middle of Plano’s defensive line – left by an all-out blitz — and went virtually untouched 73 yards, and 17 seconds into the season opener Plano was down, 7-0.

Tags: Ben Laures, Brandon Hamilton, Ceasar Brown, Chris Moore, Clayton Parlin, Connor Michelsen, Davonta Black, Denton Edwards, Garland Lakeview vs. Plano, Jarvis Baxter, Jr., Kevin Merrill, L.J. Ausama, Marquis Denmark, Murat Kuzu, Plano Football, Plano Wildcats football, Rakeem Crawford, Richard Lagow, Robert Charles, Sherrod Haynes, Steele Hoetger, Styles Winston, William Reese