Brookhaven overpowers Adams
Submitted to Southern Sports & Travel
Coming off their best performance of the 2012 campaign, Coach Tripp McCarty was eager to get his Brookhaven Academy
Cougars back under the lights on Friday night.
Prior to their game with Adams County Christian School, McCarty commented,
“We played our most complete game of the year last week and now we have to make
sure it translates to this week against a very well coached ACCS squad on their
home field.” Any sight of a letdown was diminished early as the Cougars cruised
to a sound 35 – 19 victory over the Rebels in the River City of Natchez.
The Cougars came out of the gate
quick taking the opening kickoff at their own 37 yard line and marching
downfield highlighted by a Gage Posey to Seth Rushing pass for 37 yards then
capped off by a seven yard Landon Nettles burst off left tackle for the first
score of the game in just 1:56. Matthew Evans
swept around right end for the two point conversion giving the Cougars an early
8 – 0 lead.
The Cougars would hold ACCS on
downs forcing a punt and Posey would engineer an 80 yard drive for the Cougars. A quick 16 yard strike to Rushing followed by
25 yard pass to Caleb Brown would push the Cougars deep into Rebel territory. Posey connected again with Rushing for a 15
yard touchdown pass in the south end zone.
Kevin Nettles added the PAT giving the Cougars a 15 – 0 advantage with
4:50 left to play in the 1st period.
ACCS would mount a solid drive of
their own behind a pair of skilled sophomore running backs, Lester Wells and
Trey Fleming. Controlling the ball for
over 7 minutes, the Rebels found pay dirt on a 6 yard TD run by Wells at the
8:49 mark of the 2nd quarter.
The 2 point conversion run failed settling the score at 15 – 6 BA.
The Cougars returned the Rebel
kickoff back to their own 32 yard line hoping to quickly answer the Rebel
score. As if on cue, Posey took the
first snap of the drive and hit Rushing on a post pattern who then shook off
one would-be tackler and waltzed into the end zone for a 68 yard touchdown
connection. Nettles would add the PAT
and give the cougars a 22 – 6 lead with 8:31 to play in the 2nd
period.
Feeling the need to retain
possession and keep the Cougar offense off the field, ACCS Coach David King
decided to gamble and go for a fourth down conversion on their next drive near
midfield. A quarterback sack by Tanner
Parvin halted the Rebel drive and set the Cougars up at the ACCS 41 yard
line. Posey hit Nettles on a perfectly
executed screen pass and a jarring block by Matthew Evans had the Cougars knocking
on the door once again. Posey took it
the final 2 yards off right tackle for the touchdown and stretched the Cougar lead to 28 – 6 with 5:13 to play in
the 2nd quarter.
BA’s defense would again hold
ACCS and get the ball back with 2:39 to play in the half. Not wanting to sit on the 22 point lead,
Posey went to work hitting Landon Nettles on a 31 yard wheel route out of the
backfield that set him (Nettles) up for his second TD run of the night from 10
yards out 2 plays later. Kevin Nettles
added the PAT and the Cougars took a 35 – 6 lead with 1:26 to play in the half.
After a 24 yard Wells kickoff
return, the Rebels marched downfield and quarterback Brandon Ross hit tight end
Shane Pollan in the seam for a 12 yard touchdown pass with just :12 showing on the
clock. The point after conversion run
failed and the Cougars took a 35 – 12 lead to the locker room at half.
The Cougars would hold the Rebels
forcing a punt on their opening possession of the second half and take over at
their own 13 yard line. The Cougars
netted two quick first downs and Coach McCarty decided to call it a night for
his starters. Sophomore quarterback
Heath Hickman took over and mounted a long drive behind hard running from
junior tailback Parker Myrick pushing down to the Rebel 1 yard line. A fine play by the ACCS defensive line held
the Cougars out of the end zone on 4th down but the young Cougars
showed promise on a well-executed drive.
As minutes ticked off the clock,
the Rebels put together one late drive and found the end zone on a 3 yard run
by Tristan Beach. Austin Walker added
the PAT which concluded the scoring for the night for both teams wrapping up
the victory for the Cougars in convincing fashion by a score of 35 – 19.
When asked about his team’s
performance McCarty quickly commented, “How about our offensive line play! Those guys are getting it done upfront and
allowing us to do a lot of things all over the field.” Working in the trenches for the Cougars are
Drew Phillip, Wyatt, Pepper, Cody Thornhill, Ryan Kimble and Travis
Thornton. “In 35 passing attempts the
last two games, our offensive line has only allowed the defense to touch Gage (Posey)
one time.” “That’s the way you win
football games”, said an excited McCarty.
The Cougars were led offensively by
yet another near perfect night by Posey who completed 13 of 15 first half passes
for 285 and two scores while adding another touchdown on the ground. Landon Nettles had two touchdowns and 70
yards rushing on nine carries in a short night of work. Parker Myrick had a productive outing for BA
with 31 yards on 11 carries.
Defensively the Cougars were led
by Garrett Pace and Heath Hickman with 6 tackles each. Landon Nettles, Jacob Conley and Tramel Shed
all contributed 5 stops and Jacob Thurman had an interception for the game’s
only turnover.
ACCS was led on the ground by
Trey Fleming’s 91 yards on 14 carries and Lester Wells chipped in 63 yards and
a score on 20 carries for the Rebels.
The Cougars wrap up their regular
season play next Friday night at home on R. M. “Red” Stuard Field at 7:00 p.m.
versus the Trinity Episcopal Saints with both teams vowing for the 2012
District 5 AA title.
