Lakeland Christian Academy sophomore Josiah Rice puts on the brakes while running the ball upfield during Tuesday night's home game against Blackhawk Christian.
Lakeland Christian Academy sophomore Josiah Rice puts on the brakes while running the ball upfield during Tuesday night's home game against Blackhawk Christian.
• •
WINONA LAKE – Coming off of a 9-0 win over the weekend, it was Lakeland Christian who was on the opposite end of a blowout Tuesday night, losing 4-0 to Blackhawk Christian. The Cougars are now 2-6 this fall.

From the opening whistle, Blackhawk Christian dominated both possession and attacking attempts. The Braves scored the opening goal just 40 seconds into the game on a laser from outside of the box.

Blackhawk remained on the offensive, forcing the Lakeland Christian defenders to work for each possession. Junior defender Adrian Bowdler in particular was everywhere for the Cougars, stifling more than a few Brave attacks. Blackhawk Christian had the opportunity to score two more goals in the first ten minutes, but sophomore goalkeeper Braden Weirick made two great stops, including one off of his forearm to prevent the second goal of the game from reaching the back corner. Weirick would make eight saves in just the first half.

The Cougars had to wait all the way until the 14thminute of the game for their first real chance, but it was quickly snuffed out by Blackhawk’s goalie, who was almost like an additional offensive player for the visitors the way his long free kicks started quick counterattacks.

The Braves would find the back of the net for the second time in the 22ndminute off of a deflection, opening up the floodgates. A minute later, the visitors scored for a third time. The first half was capped off a few minutes later when a header was misread by Weirick and buried for a 4-0 Blackhawk lead at halftime, which would conclude scoring for the match.

Despite not getting onto the scoreboard, the second half was largely owned by the Cougars. LCA had the ball on the visitor’s half of the field for a majority of the final 20 minutes, coming up with multiple chances that were either saved or would go just wide. Junior midfielder Casen Vawter was all over the place in the second half, piling up shots.

Lakeland Christian’s next game is Saturday at Caston.