BARNESVILLE — In what’s known as the “Battle of Potato Creek,” the Pike County Pirates and Lamar County Trojans competed on the gridiron Sept. 14 and the homestanding Trojans won the non-region game 44-7 to improve to 2-0-1 on the season.

Pike County drops to 1-2 overall, suffering its second straight loss.

Lamar got the game started on a gadget play, as tailback Lawrence Austin tossed an 81-yard pass to wideout Quay Searcy for the 7-0 lead.

“We worked on that play all week and it was good to see it work,” said Trojans head coach Franklin Stephens.

Pike tied the game at 7-all on a 20-yard TD reception from Jacob Adkins, but that was the only time Pike would stick close to Lamar. Trojans running back Aaron Holloway had a 14-yard TD run and Lawrence Austin had a 47-yard TD scamper to put Lamar ahead for good at 21-7 and that score stood at the half.

Lawrence Austin opened the third quarter with a 5-yard TD run and his twin brother Lance — the Trojans quarterback — had a successful 2-point conversion to make the score 29-7 and the rout was on. Sidarius Gotell and Antwan Wallace scored a rushing TD each and Lance Austin made another 2-point conversion for the final 44-7 margin.

“It’s good to get another win, but we have a lot of execution items to work on, especially as the season gets tougher,” Stephens said. “We’ve got to gel up front on the offensive line as well.”

Lamar is off this week while Pike hosts Central-Carrollton (3-1) Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the Pirates’ final non-region game of the season.