Mount Pleasant has victory slip through their fingers
By NICK COUNTS - Tribune Sports Editor
Saturday, August 29, 2009 2:26 PM CDT
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| Austin Turner gets up after a big take down on a sack of Courtney Patton of the Dragons. TRIBUNE photo by Bob Palmer |
Friday night at Sam Parker Stadium on the Mount Pleasant campus the Tigers faced off against the Nacogdoches Golden Dragons in a battle decided by one point, 14-15.
The Tigers overall showed a lot of positive moments in their game. The defense worked, the running game worked, but the one thing in the end they lacked was the ability to get a passing game going.
The first half for both teams was rough, as neither team was able to get a first down until midway though the first quarter when the Tigers picked up one on a run from Kannon Carter which racked up 11 yards.
Then the craziness began to happen.
Four turnovers within the next 5 plays plagued both squads. Buff Hurndon fumbled the snap and had it picked up by a Dragon player who took it to the end zone. The referees however had a different story as they waved off the touchdown and allowed Nacogdoches to take over at the Tigers' 47 yard line.
The Dragons' Bubba Johnson, after picking up 4 yards on a carry the previous play, had the ball stripped from his hands and the fumble was recovered by DK Mitchell.
The very next play from scrimmage, Cash Thompson playing quarterback was hit as he threw the ball, causing the pass to come up short and into the hands of Javosky Ervin of the Dragons.
Then as Nacogdoches took over on offense, quarterback Courtney Patton threw a big pass play to tight end Labryent Johnson who had the ball stripped from his arms by Hurndon and the fumble was recovered by Mitchell once again.
The teams finally settled down at this point and the Tigers began to put together a drive as Thompson picked up 9 on a quarterback sneak play up the middle. Then Landon Whitaker added to his carry total as he picked up 5 yards and a first down two plays later. Carter then added 4 yards after taking crushing blow from the Dragons' Javosky Ervin, losing his helmet in the process.
The Tigers kept moving right along until they shot themselves in the foot with a holding penalty and two incomplete passes.
Nacogdoches took over after the punt and made an attempt to move the ball down the field. They brought out the big defensive lineman 300lb Josh Davis on a short yard play only to have him stuffed in the backfield by Whitaker and a host of Mount Pleasant Defenders. A couple of series later Davis got the call again only to fumble and have it picked up by the Tigers.
Refrigerator Perry he is not.
The two squads went back and forth like this throughout the rest of the first half, resulting in heading to the locker room knotted up at goose eggs.
The Tigers made one final effort before the half to put some points on the board and mounted up a solid drive using their power running game.
Carter, Whitaker, Thompson and even Jason Armstead added in with short yardage gains to move the ball into Dragon territory setting up Thompson for a 36 yard field goal attempt that he booted with enough distance just wide right to end the half.
The second half looked as though two different teams stepped onto the field.
The Tigers stepped onto the field with a different game plan, going with a wishbone offense and putting Hurndon under center with Whitaker, Carter and Thompson in the backfield.
The strategy paid off quickly as the Tigers punished the Nacogdoches defense walking the ball down the field and chewing up clock.
Thompson and Whitaker did the majority of the running as they racked up the yardage with the biggest gains being 10 yard rushes, normally dragging Nacogdoches defenders along the way.
Thompson got the call with less then a yard to go and fought his way to the end-zone for the first touchdown of the game. The drive went 13 plays and covered 64 yards. The point after was blocked by the Dragons leaving the score 6-0 in the Tigers favor.
The Tiger defense had a close call as the Dragons switched up their run game as well going with D'Aundre Garrett in the back field as he powered his way down the field. The Tigers, however, tightened up and forced a punt keeping the Dragons from scoring.
The Tigers take over at their own 18 yard line and start to move the ball again using their strong offensive line and power runners.
The Dragons picked up a couple of short yardages gains until Patton hooked up with Johnson again on a 37 yard touchdown reception over the top of Hurndon. The Dragons PAT was good and they go up on the Tigers 7-6 on a 6 play 38 yard drive.
The Tigers answer right back putting together a forceful drive of their own.
Running the wishbone offense again, the tandem of Thompson and Whitaker pounded their way down the field until Whitaker broke free with the help of an excellent block from Stephen Zarcone for an 11 yard touchdown. Thompson then tacks on the 2 point conversion with a run and the Tigers go up 14-7 on the 9 play 45 yard drive.
Nacogdoches takes over and with the aid of some penalties and a big sack from Austin Turner ends up punting back to the Tigers. The Tigers however, were unable to capitalize as they picked up penalties.
The tide turned when Whitaker broke out for a big run and threw a stiff-arm to the facemask of a Nacogdoches defender which resulted in a offensive facemask call putting them back 15 yards from the line of scrimmage. The penalty was questionable and a very rare call, it also killed the momentum that the Tigers had build up and they ended up punting the ball off and giving the Dragons decent field position.
With 2:11 left to go in the game Nacogdoches took over and moved the ball down the field as they were able to make passes and get out of bounds to stop the clock as they had no time-outs left. The Tigers made great defensive efforts as Benny Blaize broke up a pass and almost had the interception, and Hurndon knocked Jerimichael Smith out of bounds just short of the first down bringing up a fourth down play.
Garrett however powers his way past the first down marker on a three yard gain to keep the Dragons drive alive, resulting in a quarterback sneak by Patton for the touchdown. The sneak was repeated by Patton for the 2 point conversion putting the Dragons up over the Tigers 15-14 with less then a min to go in the game.
The Tigers took over on their own 30 yard line, with Thompson back at the helm of the offense. The passing game faltered at this point ad Mitchell dropped a pass and Armstead and Sam Redfearn were both overthrown. With the aid of some pass interference penalties from Nacogdoches the Tigers were still able to get a shot at bringing home the victory. Thompson fount his man Armstead for an 11 yard gain for a fourth-down conversion to keep the drive alive. This set up a very long field-goal attempt by Thompson that was on target, just ended up being about 5 yards short of the up-rights.
"We did some things right tonight," Said Coach Jimmy Thompson. "The guys played hard and the offense worked. If we just had another minute that game would have been ours, but our offense chews up clock.
"We have a lot to work on this week, but as long as we learn from this we have a good start."
