SANFORD — Missed opportunities proved costly for St. Pauls in Friday’s road nonconfernece tilt against Lee County, with the Yellow Jackets topping the Bulldogs 41-19.

“We left a lot of meat on the bone,” St. Pauls coach Mike Setzer said. “I think we were in the red zone four times and didn’t capitalize. We have to get back to executing on both sides of the ball. I felt like we were pretty evenly matched, but they capitalized on opportunities and we didn’t.”

Malachi Locklear scored a kick return touchdown for St. Pauls (1-1), Jakhi Purcell had a touchdown reception on a screen pass from Theophilus Setzer and Quintell McNeill had a touchdown run.

Lee County (2-0) scored first before the Bulldogs scored their own first-quarter touchdown, and the Yellow Jackets led 8-6 after the opening period. Lee county scored two more touchdowns in the middle stages of the second quarter before St. Pauls pulled back within one score with 4:28 left in the first half, and the 20-13 tally remained until halftime.

The Yellow Jackets expanded their lead with two third-quarter touchdowns and led 34-13 entering the fourth. St. Pauls pulled to a 34-19 deficit with 4:42 to go before Lee County provided the final scoring play of the game to establish the 22-point final margin.

While St. Pauls prepares for next week’s home game against South Brunswick, Mike Setzer said the Bulldogs simply have to focus on their own execution and taking better advantage of opportunities.

“I think we were our own worst enemy tonight,” the coach said. “Not taking away from Lee County, they’re a good, well-coached team, they beat us, they earned the win. But we’ve got to take care of St. Pauls. We’re leaving too many opportunities on the field. … We’ve gotta execute. The good thing is, we’re not a mistake-filled program right now, we’re not turning the ball over, but we’ve got too many turnovers on downs, too many third and longs. We’ve got work to do.”

Lee County improved to 2-0 all-time against the Bulldogs after a 42-14 win last year in St. Pauls.