Papillon leads Krop to victory

Trailing 6-0 at halftime, Krop, led by running back Lawrence Papillon, scored 27 unanswered points in the second half to capture the District 13-8A contest after defeating Hialeah 27-12 at Milander Stadium.

Papillon finished the night with 170 yards on 21 carries (138 on 17 in the second half) and a pair of touchdowns as the Lightning, even though already eliminated from playoff contention, improved to 4-4, 2-2.

“Coach (Mike Farley) told us we just had to go out there and step it up on the second half and that’s what we did,” said Papillon. “Even though we can’t make the playoffs, we still have a chance to go 6-4 and have a winning season so that’s our goal at this point.”

After Hialeah (2-5, 0-4) took its 6-0 lead to the half, thanks to a 17-play, 95 yard drive that ate up most of the second quarter, the Lightning put on a three-touchdown blitz over the first eight minutes of the third quarter.

Papillon scored from 7 yards out to complete an opening second half drive and followed with a 40 yard score on Krop’s next possession.

Justin Korakakos then got in on the act for the Lightning when he picked off a T-Bred pass and returned it 26 yards for a score to make it 20-6.

Then, as the team’s punter and standing in his own end zone, he took off on a 33 yard run on fourth-and-10 from his own five that eventually led to an 18-yard touchdown run by A.J. Betancourt for the putaway score with 7:14 left.

This story was originally published October 20, 2016 at 11:19 PM with the headline "Papillon leads Krop to victory."