LAKEVILLE - Taking advantage of opportunities is always a large portion for any athletic team. Take the LaVille football team in their latest conference game against Knox. The Lancers had several chances at putting points on the board against the Redskins only to come up on the short end of a 20-7 conference outcome. LHS started the game running from a power-I.  At times they were very successful in not only a different look than Knox had seen on film from LaVille, but also in person. "It allows us to be a downhill running team and takes some thinking out of the game," said Thacker when asked about the benefit. "We'll see as we move forward.  I am sure parts of it will stick around." In what was a very physical, low-scoring game through most of three quarters.  In fact the Lancers clung to a 7-6 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Knox received the opening kick off and worked down field, scoring on Jaydin Fisher's 10-yard run. A blocked PAT by LaVille special teams made the score 6-0 in favor of Knox. After that drive, the LHS defense kept the Redskins offense out of the end zone while the offense converted its own drive in the second quarter. "The main adjustment was to be as physical as them," noted Thacker when asked about any big changes. " You have to play physical football against Knox or it's going to be a long night." Then after a couple of punts, LaVille made a couple big-play chunks during a scoring drive and subsequent point-after, putting the Lancers ahead.  Noah Menis and Dylan Miller helped keep the chains moving behind an offensive line that kept the LaVille train moving. Miller's 8-yard TD run finished off a 7-play drive. "First off, our defense was playing well and put us into position to score by getting stops," noted the Lancer skipper.  "We were able to punch the ball into the endzone and had other opportunities to score that we didn't take advantage of. " Clinging to a 7-6 lead heading into the second half, the Lancers had a couple of chances to score, but penalties and turnovers and stymied Lancer drives. "There was a penalty on the first drive of the second half that hurt," explained Thacker.  "We were doing some good things and weren't able to overcome the penalty on that possession.  The interceptions were from a lot of things, protection, trying to do too much and not going through our progressions.  It wasn't one person, it was all of us and we need all of us in order to be successful in those situations." Thacker and his coaching staff used a couple different quarterbacks to help LaVille move the ball. "Each young man has their strengths and we have to utilize those strengths to the best of our abilities as a staff," mentioned the Lancer boss. "We weren't able to score points when we had the opportunity to score points.  If we take advantage of those opportunities the outcome is different. KNOX 20 LAVILLE 7 At Community Field | Knox HS Score By Quarters LaVille 0 7 7 7 Knox 6 6 6 20 Scoring Summary K - Jaydin Fisher 10 run; kick blocked L - Dylan Miller 8 run; Caleb Skiles kick K - Madden Olejniczak 23 run; kick failed K - Olejniczak 33 run; Olejniczak run * * * * * GAMEDAY WEEK #7 JOHN GLENN (1-5) AT LAVILLE (1-5) It's homecoming week at LaVille. Not just homecoming, but a big rivalry game with conference implications. Plenty on the line including bragging rights and pride. We asked LaVille head football coach about homecoming week. "I'm sure that I am like any other coach who wants to minimize distractions and never have gotten wrapped up in Homecoming," said Coach Thacker. "We want to see our kids continue to get better and execute what we have been working on in practice.  Our team knows the implications, especially the older kids.  To focus on them is another distraction, just play football." After a week one victory at Boone Grove (33-7), the Falcons have lost five straight.  John Glenn has averaged 7.2 points per game during the last five weeks, while allowing 25.6. During our chat with Coach Thacker we talked about John Glenn and what the Lancers can expect. "They want to be an option football team, much like we are working towards," said the LaVille skipper.  "Offensively, they want to control the game with the run game and on defense they are going to look to stop the run and play physical.  They have the depth to do so and we'll need to play physically like last week." Following the team film session, Thacker and Co. know full well several John Glenn players to watch Friday at Lancer Field. "(Jeevan Wessel) #1 will play fullback on offense and will also be a MLB on defense.  We have to be sure to tackle him on defense and block him when we are on offense," Thacker said. (Donavan Martin) #50 is another player that sticks out on the DL.  He is very physical and we'll have our hands full trying to block him and defeating his blocks while we're on defense. (Deegan Conroy) #11 their QB will also be a handful and we have to tackle him or we'll be in for a long night.  He is also a LB and gets to the ball very well." The Falcons are coming off a 40-0 loss to Bremen a week ago.  The Lancers, meanwhile, return home after a 20-7 setback at Knox.  Both clubs are looking for their first Indiana Northern State Conference victory. Keys to a Lancer victory? According to Coach Thacker, "Win the turnover battle. Win the explosive plays. Win the Hidden Yardage." Troy Sausaman is in his first season at John Glenn and 7th season overall. Sausaman is returning to the head football coaching position after some time at Maconaquah, where he was 24-44 in six seasons for the Braves.  Thacker has spend the last eight seasons as head coach of Fairfield and Wawasee.  He is 33-55 in his 9th year overall. It's Week #7 of the IHSAA football regular season. And the 59th meeting in the LaVille-John Glenn ... The Lancers lead 33-24-1.  Game on ...