MONTICELLO — Vicksburg grabbed three onside kicks in the second half but could not stop Lawrence County on fourth down.

The Cougars (2-3) converted all four of its fourth down tries in the second half to sustain drives, and eventually wore out the Gators for a 46-21 win on Friday night.

Vicksburg (0-4) trailed 20-0 at the half but grabbed back-to-back onside kicks and converted them into touchdowns on runs by Adam Reed and Darius Youngblood to make it 20-14 five minutes into the third quarter.

Lawrence County responded with a 60-yard drive aided by two fourth down conversions, the first coming when Vicksburg had 12 men on the field on a fourth-and-2 at the VHS 40. They added another fourth down conversion on a 16-yard scramble by Laquan Hallaird that set up a two-yard TD run by Alexander Montgomery to make it 26-14.

Montgomery scored two more touchdowns, on runs of 51 and 18 yards, in the game’s final two minutes to complete the rout. Montgomery finished with 196 yards to lead a rushing attack the rolled up 445 yards.

Vicksburg coach Alonzo Stevens said his team must play tougher on critical downs.

“I’m tired of seeing the same thing,” Stevens said. “Fourth-down conversion, third-down conversions, we couldn’t stop them. Somehow, we have got to stop the bleeding.”

Lawrence County coach Mike Davis was not happy about the Gators getting the two onside kicks to start the second half, then one more in the fourth quarter after Cameron Cooksey hit Alvin Stamps on a 65-yard TD pass with 4:36 left to make it 33-21.

“We knew coming in that Vicksburg had a good little kicker (Travis Haas). It’s something we worked on all week and we still couldn’t stop it. At least we got a good game out of our quarterback. He’s the third one we’ve had to use this season and this was his first start,” Davis said.

Hallaird had 97 yards and scored on an 18-yard TD run with five minutes left to make it 33-14. The Cougars had two other backs run for more than 50 yards.

Vicksburg was led by Cooksey, who finished 10-of-27 for 179 yards and one touchdown.