TAYLOR — Brayden Rose didn’t want to see another game against Lackawanna Trail slip away.

After the Lions defeated Riverside the past three seasons, Rose made key plays throughout the contest to carry the seventh-ranked Vikings to a 27-3 win in a Lackawanna Football Conference game Friday night.

“We had to come out here and play a physical game and win,” Rose said. “At halftime, we had the lead but coach told us to calm down, come out with some energy, and score again. We came out as a family here tonight, and it ultimately showed.”

Lackawanna Trail took an early 3-0 lead when Joey Thomas converted a 34-yard field goal to cap an 11-play drive that took more than six minutes off the clock.

Rose quickly answered, taking the ball around the right end and scampering 68 yards for a touchdown run with 2:30 remaining in the first quarter.

“There were one or two missed assignments and when you’re playing a kid with that athleticism, he makes you pay for it,” Lackawanna Trail head coach Steve Jervis said.

Lackawanna Trail (0-4) failed to take advantage of two Riverside miscues late in the first half.

First, the Lions received the ball on the Vikings 42 after the ball was snapped over the punter’s head, but Rose intercepted a pass from Trail quarterback Lucas Filipek five plays later at the 14 to end the threat.

Then, after a 7-yard punt resulted from another bad snap, Trail got the ball at the Riverside 27. After a 10-yard run by Filipek and a 12-yard connection to Lucas Brunner, the Lions moved the ball to the 2 but Carmelo Barnett intercepted a pass in the end zone and returned the ball to midfield as time expired in the half.

“I saw it, picked it, and tried returning it as far as I could,” Barnett said.

Following more adversity on the opening drive of the second half, Riverside padded its lead.

Facing 3rd-and-29 from the Vikings 42 after two penalties, Rose launched a pass that Tyler Grill hauled in for a 41-yard gain. Rose scored on a 17-yard run on the next play.

“If we don’t catch that ball, we’re punting there and it was still a 6-3 game,” Riverside head coach Jim Tucker said. “That was such a big momentum turner for us.”

Barnett gave Riverside (4-0) more breathing room early in the fourth quarter with a 26-yard touchdown run.

“We sold the fake really well,” he said. “Brayden’s going wide right and everyone’s going to chase that, and the backside took care of the work. There was wide open space and I pretty much walked into the end zone.”

Grill cemented the victory with a 39-yard touchdown run with 5:10 left in the game.

Despite a fourth consecutive loss, Jervis took some positives out of the latest defeat.

“I’m so proud of the growth of our team,” he said. “We’re starting some young kids, we have a lot of new faces out there, but I thought we played with a lot more fire tonight. There were a lot of small victories even though we didn’t win the game. I think our best football is ahead of us. We’re definitely on the right track.”