Lakota West senior Michael Carter recalls watching the Firebirds win over Middletown from the stands when he was in the eighth grade.

Four years later, Carter got to celebrate a win over the Middies of his own.

“It is a great thing,” Carter said after returning an interception for a touchdown in the third quarter. “To get them this year was great; especially on senior night.”

Lakota West forced five Middletown turnovers, three of which led to touchdowns, in a 27-6 win over the Middies to remain perfect at 8-0, 5-0 in the Greater Miami Conference.

“You gotta want to win and that was a winnable game,” Middletown coach Troy Everhart said after his squad dropped to 2-6 and 1-4. ”When you have fourth-and-inches, you have to come through and we fumble. We’ve got to find a way to convert. That’s what we did last year, we found ways to win, but I think that was a more mature group.”

Middletown trailed 20-0 at the break and Carter’s 60-yard pick-six off Jalin Marshall gave the Firebirds a 27-0 lead before the Middies started to rally.

Marshall picked up a fumble as Yvonte Glover went into the line and broke loose for a 59-yard scoring run and capped the night with an 18-yard scoring toss to Jordann Thomas.

Middletown could have pulled closer but fumbled at the West 1 early in the fourth quarter.

“We tell our kids the most important stat is turnovers,” West coach Larry Cox said after recording his 100th win on a night his squad finished plus-3 in the category. “They can kill you or they can help you.”

It didn’t take long for turnovers and missed opportunities to put the Middies behind the eight ball for the second straight week.

After stopping West on their first possession, the Middies went for it on fourth-and-1 from their own 15, but Marshall fumbled with West jumping on the ball at the Middie 10. On the next play, Grove hit Justin Martin in the middle of the end zone for a 7-0 lead. West also took advantage of the first of two first-half interceptions by Marshall, when Kole Gentry carried the load, running three times before bulling in from the 2 to push the lead to 20-0 with 3:20 left in the half.

The Middies appeared to even the score early in the second quarter as Williams Peters scooted around the end and into the end zone, but the Middies were called for holding, wiping out the score. However, three plays later, Zach Green’s 35-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left.