Oak Forest stings Brookhaven

Submitted to Southern Sports & Travel

Going into the week and preparing for a good Oak Forest Academy football team, Coach Tripp McCarty knew the BA Cougars would have to be ready to play a very physical Yellow Jacket squad from Amite, LA.  “We beat them twice last year and knocked them out of the playoffs.” said McCarty prior to the game.  “They haven’t forgotten that and are going to show up ready to play.”  Nothing could have been closer to the truth as the Yellow Jackets came in and stung Brookhaven Academy 35 - 21.

Things looked good for the Cougars early as they held Oak Forest to a three and out on the first series of the game then took over at their own 35 yard line.  BA was on a roll and methodically advancing downfield until a fumble halted the BA drive at the Oak Forest 23 yard line.

The Jackets would answer and put together a drive of their own culminated by a 41 yard touchdown pass from quarterback Carter Capdeboscq to slot-back Dave Smith.  Zach Kent added the PAT to give OF a 7 – 0 lead at the 3:56 mark of the first quarter.

On The Cougar’s next possession the Yellow Jackets would force BA into a punting situation after a quick three and out.  With a strong surge up the middle the Jackets were able to smother the punt and recover the blocked attempt deep in BA territory at the 14 yard line.  After converting a key third down and 10 play, Oak Forest took a 14 – 0 lead on a Sam Bourgeois four yard TD run and Kent PAT conversion with: 36 seconds left in the first quarter.

BA would start the second quarter and their next drive at the Oak Forest 26 yard line desperately needing to put points on the board.  A Gage Posey to Seth Rushing 32 yard pass and run would set the Cougars up for their first score of the game when Posey again hit Rushing in the south end zone on a 13 yard touchdown pass play with 9:33 left in the first half.  Kevin Nettles would add the PAT and draw the Cougars closer at 14 – 7.

Oak Forest started their next drive at the 26 yard line of BA and what became the theme of the night, they began to grind out the clock and dominate the line of scrimmage.  Behind runs right at the heart of the Brookhaven Academy defense highlighted by a 19 yard jaunt by Rhase Riggins carrying tacklers with him down inside the Cougar 10 yard line.  Riggins then added to his yardage total on the drive with a 6 yard touchdown run, add the Kent PAT and give the Jackets a 21 – 7 lead that would take the teams to the locker rooms at halftime.

Hoping to get things rolling in the second half, Brookhaven Academy would take the kickoff and drive it 77 yards, converting two key fourth down plays, the second conversion a Posey 17 yard pass just over the OF defender to Ross Foreman.  Nettles added the PAT to again cut the Oak Forest lead to seven points at 21 – 14 with exactly 6:00 to play in the third quarter.

The Yellow Jackets would not score in the third quarter but they would eat up the remaining six minutes of the period and an additional 2:03 of the fourth quarter before Riggins scored his second touchdown of the night on a 4 yard run.  The PAT snap was mishandled and the Jackets had to settle for a 27 - 14 lead with time slipping away from the Cougars.

Unable to convert on a fourth down six at their own 48 yard line, BA turned the ball over to OF with only 7:48 to play in the game.  Sticking to what was working, the Jackets pushed their drive forward capped off by a Bourgeois 10 yard touchdown run and 2 point conversion stretching  the OF lead to 35 – 14 and only 1:40 showing on the clock.

The Cougars started their ensuing drive at the OF 32 yard line and quickly pushed it across the midfield stripe.  Posey would again hook up with Rushing for a 49 yard pass play and touchdown with a mere 60 seconds to play in the contest.  Nettles would add the PAT cutting the Oak Forest lead to 14.

The Brookhaven Academy on-sides kick was quickly recovered by the Yellow Jackets front-line at midfield sealing the 35 – 21 road victory for Oak Forest.  A perplexed Coach McCarty said after the game that this was not the Cougar football team that he saw practice so well all week.  “We didn’t show up to play and they whipped us from the start.  “Give Oak Forest credit, they dominated the run game and totally controlled the clock limiting us to only six possessions the entire game.”  McCarty continued, “We have to show some character and bounce back from where we stand right now.”

Offensively the Brookhaven Academy was led by Gage Posey who passed for 250 yards and three touchdowns completing 21 of 38 attempts.  Seth Rushing snagged 10 catches for 154 yards and 2 scores and Ross Foreman had 38 yards on 6 catches and a score for the Cougars.  Landon Nettles led BA in rushing with 54 yards on 14 carries.

Defensively BA was led by senior linebacker Preston Rawls with 13 tackles.  Colby Culbertson and Garrett Pace each chipped in nine stops for the Cougars.

The Yellow Jackets were led by Sam Bourgeois who had 117 yards on 28 carries and two touchdowns.  Rhase Riggins had 104 yards and two scores as well on the ground.

Brookhaven Academy is on the road next week traveling to Franklinton, LA to meet the Bowling Green Buccaneers before getting into district play on October 12 versus Columbia Academy for Homecoming 2012.