Shutout: Forest Hill football locks down defensively in victory over Lake Worth

WEST PALM BEACH — The Forest Hill football team took over in the fourth quarter to defeat Lake Worth 19-0 on Friday in a matchup of teams fighting to get back to .500.

Both teams experienced some early struggles and entered with 1-2 records.

Lake Worth (1-3) enjoyed momentum coming off a solid win against Olympic Heights last week behind a 106-yard, two-touchdown rushing performance by senior running back Vaughn Braynen, but couldn't find the end zone against the Falcons (2-2).

How it happened

It was quickly clear this was going to be a defense-dominated game with both teams exchanging several three-and-out drives and no score at halftime.

Despite a number of costly penalties and fumbles on offense, the Falcons' defense stood its ground and was able to nearly shut down Lake Worth’s running game.

With Braynen securing The Post's Athlete of the Week honors last week, the Falcons were prepared and executed the game plan perfectly. The Trojans' offensive line struggled all night to get any push to give the senior running back room to run.

“All the credit goes to my defensive coordinator,” said Forest Hill head coach Garrett Necaise. "I really only have one assistant coach right now, so having him do his own work, really all credit goes to him and those guys [on defense]."

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The score remained 0-0 heading into the final quarter when Forest Hill finally broke through with a rushing touchdown by senior running back Andrew Davis.

After that, it was all Falcons.

Later in the quarter, senior quarterback Josh Herst found a lane down the sideline and put on the accelerator to push Forest Hill’s lead to 13-0 and just about put the game out of reach for the Trojans.

Junior Da’Quan Anderson added a pick-six of his own to seal the 19-0 win.

Lake Worth definitely had opportunities to score. However, two dropped passes in the end zone on two different drives and several costly penalties kept the shutout intact.

“We fought, but we definitely have some things we need to clean up,” Necaise said. "We need to take care of our own business on offense and not leave it up to our defense every time."

Forest Hill will look to carry this momentum into next week’s matchup against Wellington.

As for the Trojans, they will prepare to travel to Santaluces High School for a district matchup under the lights.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Shutout: Forest Hill football locks down defensively in victory over Lake Worth