{"id":614,"date":"2026-08-30T12:52:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T16:52:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsouthconference.com\/football\/?p=614"},"modified":"2026-08-30T12:52:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T16:52:24","slug":"clayton-state-crushes-lighthouse-in-championship-rematch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsouthconference.com\/football\/2026\/08\/30\/clayton-state-crushes-lighthouse-in-championship-rematch\/","title":{"rendered":"Clayton State Crushes Lighthouse in Championship Rematch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>ELLENWOOD, Ga.<\/strong> &#8211; The Clayton State Lakers opened their season with a dominant 38-0 victory over the Lighthouse College Makos, a rematch of last season&#8217;s championship game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Lakers struck first on their opening possession, marching 59 yards down the field before quarterback Sire Hardaway connected with Savion West on a 12-yard touchdown pass to put Clayton State ahead 7-0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Makos&#8217; opening drive ended almost immediately when they fumbled the snap on their first offensive play. Kennan Burns recovered the ball for the Lakers, setting up a scoring opportunity that resulted in a Michael Kraskouskas field goal and a 10-0 advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the second quarter, Hardaway continued to lead the offense efficiently, finding DeAngeleo Walton for a 4-yard touchdown pass to extend the lead to 17-0. After the Lakers defense forced a turnover on downs, Clayton State capitalized again when Hardaway hit Walton for a 60-yard touchdown strike, sending the Lakers into halftime with a commanding 24-0 lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Lakers defense remained relentless after the break. Defensive back Charles Gordon stepped in front of a pass and returned the interception 48 yards for a touchdown, pushing the lead to 31-0. Clayton State would add one final score when Hardaway connected with Chad Rafe on a 43-yard touchdown pass to cap the scoring at 38-0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Statistically, the Lakers controlled every aspect of the game. Clayton State compiled 304 total yards of offense while holding Lighthouse College to just 120 total yards. Hardaway led the offensive charge, completing 10 of 14 passes for 153 yards and three touchdowns, spreading the ball effectively among several receivers and delivering multiple explosive plays through the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Lakers defense was equally impressive, forcing key turnovers, recording a defensive touchdown, and pitching a shutout. The unit consistently kept the Makos offense off balance and prevented any sustained scoring threats throughout the contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the win, CSU seemed to pick up where they left off last November when it downed Lighthouse in the inaugural NSAC championship 42-28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With a complete team performance on both sides of the ball, Clayton State begins the season 1-0 and will look to build on the momentum from an impressive opening-week victory.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Story and photo courtesy Clayton State Football<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ELLENWOOD, Ga. &#8211; The Clayton State Lakers opened their season with a dominant 38-0 victory over the Lighthouse College Makos, a rematch of last season&#8217;s championship game. The Lakers struck first on their opening possession, marching 59 yards down the field before quarterback Sire Hardaway connected with Savion West on a 12-yard touchdown pass to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":616,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clayton-state","category-lighthouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsouthconference.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsouthconference.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsouthconference.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsouthconference.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsouthconference.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsouthconference.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":617,"href":"https:\/\/newsouthconference.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614\/revisions\/617"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsouthconference.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsouthconference.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsouthconference.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsouthconference.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}