MERRILLVILLE | It was Senior Night at Merrillville's last regular-season home game, and visiting Lake Central brought the presents.

The Indians turned the ball over twice on first-quarter fumbles to give the Times No. 8 Pirates excellent field position. Host Merrillville said thanks with a pair of unanswered touchdowns and went on to a 34-3 Duneland Athletic Conference victory.

Lake Central turned the ball over five times, four of them on fumbles.

Merrillville (5-3, 3-3) took the opening kickoff and marched 68 yards in 11 plays to open the scoring. Quarterback Dolapo Macarthy ran the ball in from the 6-yard line to make it 7-0 with 7:53 left.

"I think we started out the game with a really nice, long drive," Merrillville coach Zac Wells said. "It set the tone for the game when we were able to come out and move them off of the line of scrimmage and go down the field."

Then the presents arrived from Lake Central (3-5, 1-5).

On their first play from scrimmage, the Indians fumbled the exchange.

Linebacker Dionte Day scooped the ball up and rambled 26 yards for the score just 11 seconds after the first one.

L.C. took the kickoff and ran four plays before more trouble. A bad snap sailed over the head of punter Geoff Bowman, and the Pirates recovered at the Indians' 9-yard line. Denzel Pierce scored on the next play, and it was 21-0 Merrillville with 5:30 still left in the first quarter.

"Any time you are talking turnovers, you're already in deep trouble," Lake Central coach Bill Melby said. "We seem to have a different problem holding us back every week. Last week it was the special teams, tonight it was fumbles.

"We need to work harder on our mental focus and awareness."

Merrillville put together another long drive, nine plays and 63 yards, in the third quarter. They settled for a 27-yard field goal from Ryan Stokes when the drive stalled at the L.C. 10.

"Both of our lines played really well tonight," Wells said. "They don't get the credit they deserve. The defense stepped up after a rough outing last week, and the offense opened up some nice holes. A great job all around."