East Limestone's Ryan Rodriguez (15) makes a tackle on Lee's running back on Thursday night.

It was a familiar refrain for East Limestone Thursday night against Lee-Huntsville, as penalties and special teams mistakes highlighted a 35-7 loss in a Class 5A, Region 8 game.

The Indians had three empty trips into the red zone, thanks to two missed field goals and penalties that backed them up back across midfield, as an early 7-0 lead quickly turned sour.

“We shot ourselves in the foot again,” East Limestone coach Jeff Pugh said. “We did not finish drives. Had we finished drives, it would’ve been 14-13 at halftime. It’s very frustrating, because we look good at times. But right now we can’t put four quarters together, and we’re not going to beat any good football teams in our region until we start doing that.”

The Indians jumped out to a 7-0 lead less than three minutes into the game when Nile Foss rushed 47 yards for a touchdown. Sabian James added the extra point.

Lee tied the score later in the first quarter on a 27-yard touchdown pass from Noah Watkins to Christopher Reed. The Generals took a 14-7 halftime lead after a Cordarius Cox 8-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter.

Lee took control of the game in the third quarter, as a long kickoff return set up a 4-yard touchdown run by A’Varius Lewis just 34 seconds into the second half. The Generals extended the lead midway through the third quarter on a 1-yard run by Watkins and closed the scoring with a 64-yard touchdown run by Reed in the fourth quarter.

Lee had 295 rushing yards and 347 total yards while East Limestone had 175 rushing yards and 232 total yards. Foss led the Indians with 91 yards on 13 carries while Wyatt Wilburn had 68 yards on 19 carries.

Andrew Parris and Corey Crouch combined for 57 yards passing, with 41 of those yards going on one reception by Dominic White.

Pugh said after watching game film, he is ready to try something different.

“Man, we’re just not playing hard enough,” Pugh said. “We’re not getting the effort we need out of some guys. It’s time now at this stage of the game to start putting some different kids in.”

East Limestone (2-2, 1-2) steps out of region play next week to host rival Athens.