Seven Lakes came into this week on a mission.

Coming off a loss to Katy in their first district game, the Spartans needed to bounce back, knowing they did not want to go to 0-2 in the ever tough District 19-6A.

The Spartans went through practice the entire week with that in mind and came into Thursday’s game at Legacy Stadium focused.

Seven Lakes (4-2, 1-1) used a strong run game and a stingy defensive performance to do just that, beating Taylor (1-5, 0-2) 44-20 to secure their first win of the district season.

“It was huge to get this win,” said Seven Lakes senior quarterback Grayson Medford. “Football is all about momentum. It’s all about energy and confidence and this win gave us a lot of that.”

Medford was helped out by a dominating performance on the ground from the Seven Lakes backfield. Barrett Hudson rushed for 247 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries and Michael Amico ran for 107 yards on 14 carries, rushing in a touchdown as well, while Marcel Davis had 47 yards receiving and 16 yards rushing with two touchdowns.

“Our guys are so unselfish,” said Seven Lakes head coach Jimmy Hamon. “We have three really good backs I think along with our quarterback and they’re all able to move the ball on the ground. It’s a complimentary game. There’s a power back with Michael, there’s shiftiness with Barrett and then with the speed and athleticism and is able to make plays with his feet. We’ve realized offensively that we are best when we divvy the ball up. We don’t want one person to have too many carries and it keeps them fresh, it keeps them in the game and the defense on the other side off balance.”

It took under a minute for Seven Lakes to get on the board. Hudson ripped off a 66-yard gain on his second carry of the game, and Amico ran in a 4-yard score on the next play.

After shutting down a Taylor drive, Keegan Sneedon nailed a 30-yard field goal to increase the lead and on the Spartans next drive Barrett Hudson ran in a touchdown from 33-yards out to give the team a 17-0 lead.

Taylor looked to be finding momentum on its next drive, but the Seven lake’s defense stepped up and forced a turnover off a fumble and the next play, Medford found Davis on a 47-yard pass to build the lead even further.

“Our defense is just out of this world,” Hudson said. “I just love our defense and everything they do. They bring the pressure every practice and every game and it makes us better on offense too. They we’re amazing out there.”

Taylor finally answered back when Michael Whitaker scored on a 2-yard run but Seven Lakes came up with an interception on the next Taylor drive and again capitalized on it as Medford scored on a one-yard keeper.

Taylor trimmed the lead to 17 going into the half as Tyler Irving scored on a 10-yard run, but Seven Lakes controlled the game in the second half.

Hudson finished just the first half with 182 yards, the sophomore has grown into a larger and larger role as the season has gone along.

“We knew he was going to be a great player, we knew that when we saw him as a freshman and we knew that after spring football, and we knew we needed to find a way to give him the ball,” Hamon said. “We eased him into it because of the jump from freshman to varsity football and gave him a few carries in different spots, but he came alive in week three. At that point, we said ‘okay, he’s seen the speed of the game and he can play.’ We’re really pleased with his development and I just can’t say enough great things about him.”

Sneedon kicked two more field goals in the second half, from 33 and 46 yards out and Davis ran in a touchdown before Taylor scored on a 21-yard pass from Jake Webster to Wyatt Fahey on the final play of the game.

The loss is the fifth straight for the Mustangs, and things won’t get any easier as the team faces Tompkins next week.

Seven Lakes will enjoy its first win over the Mustangs since 2018 but knows there is still work to do. The Spartans will next face Morton Ranch in what could be a huge game with playoff implications.

“This was a huge game for us,” Hamon said. “It’s already more wins that we had last year, and to beat a team like Taylor who has been really good over the past few years was big as well. We hadn’t done that since 2018 and even then it went down to the wire so it was nice to have a dominating performance tonight. It just sets us up to go into next week with confidence against a Morton Ranch team that also beat them.”

Seven Lakes 41, Taylor 20

First quarter

SL: Michael Amico 4 run (Keegan Sneedon kick) 11:05

SL: Sneedon 30 field goal, 4;19

SL: Barrett Hudson 33 run (Sneedon kick) 2:50

SL: Grayson Medford 47 pass to Marcel Davis (Sneedon kick) 1:07

Second quarter

T: Michael Whitaker 2 run (Alei Sabek kick) 8:53

SL: Medford 1 run (Sneedon kick) 3:47

SL: Tyler Irving 10 kick (Sabek kick) 1:27

Third quarter

SL: Sneedon 33 field goal (Sneedon kick) 5:20

Fourth quarter

SL: Sneedon 46 field goal (Sneedon kick) 3:51

SL: Jake Webster 21 pass to Wyatt Fahey, 0:00

Team stats

Individual Statistics

Rushing – Taylor: Michael Whitaker III, 12-101-1; Cherron Lewis II, 3-57; Dante Archie, 2-53; Tyler Irving, 8-47-1; Chase Cobbin, 17-43; Alei Sabek, 1-3; Seven Lakes: Barrett Hudson, 20-247-1; Michael Amico, 14-107-1; Grayson Medford, 7-47-1; Marcel Davis, 1-16-1; Roman Bersche, 2-1;

Passing – Taylor: Chase Cobbin, 6-12-72-0-1; Jake Webster, 1-6-5-0-1; Seven lakes: Grayson Medford, 2-7-58-1-0

Receiving – Taylor: Wyatt Fahey, 2-31-1; Jamon Hines, 2-33; Ian Flynt, 2-15; Michael Whitaker III, 1-(-2); Seven Lakes: Marcel Davis, 1-47-1; Landon Ross, 1-11