Loyd Star ‘one play better’ than Wesson
BY BRADLEY CROW
The Wesson Cobras (6-1) went to the wire with the #5 ranked 2-A rival Loyd Star Hornets (7-0) Thursday night in front of 3500+ fans only to have a disastrous possession in overtime to hand the Hornets a 27-21 victory.
“They just made one more play than we did at the end,” stated a disappointed Wesson head coach Tommy Clopton. “I thought our kids played hard and we just didn’t make the plays at the end like we needed to.”
The Cobras started the game by slapping the Hornets right in the mouth with a Brandon Allen 74 yard kickoff return to the Hornet 6 yard. On fourth down from the one, fullback Jeromy Smith plunged in from 1-yard out and gave the Cobras a 6-0 lead with 9:22 left in the first quarter. Austin Graham’s PAT was good and the Cobras led 7-0. The second quarter saw Loyd Star running back Marquis Hayes get gone from scrimmage on a 54 yard TD burst. Chris Buie knotted the score at 7-7 early in the second quarter.
The Cobras struck late in the second quarter on a beautiful Matt Smith to DJ Coleman bomb of 63 yards. It was Coleman’s third TD catch of over 60 yards three weeks in a row. Graham’s PAT was wide and the Cobras took a 13-7 lead into the half.
The third quarter saw the Cobras fumble an option pitch between backup quarterback Jacob Fischer and Deon Pendleton and gave the Hornets the momentum from the 15 yard line to take the lead. Fullback Tradareous Wilson filled the bill three plays later and the Buie kick gave the Hornets a 14-13 lead.
The Hornets went up 21-13 when the speedster Hayes took the punt from a hobbled Matt Smith and raced 51 yards to paydirt. That set up the Cobras final drive highlighted by an incredible 20 yard reception by Coleman on 3rd and 20 and an all out effort to fight for the first down. Jeromy Smith added the touchdown from the one yard line and then the two point conversion himself to send the game to overtime 21-21.
The Hornets shredded the Cobra defense on the first possession in overtime and marched in easily. The Cobras were given a gift when the Buie PAT was pushed right and Loyd Star was left vulnerable 27-21.
The end result however was a holding call, dropped pass, and a controversial no call on a pass interference on 4th down to seal the Cobras fate and the Hornets huge win.
Wesson was led by Jeromy Smith’s two touchdown performance on 54 yards rushing. Coleman had two catches for 83 yards and a touchdown. Defensively, Brandon Allen led the Cobra defenders with 11 tackles while Gage Wilson, Peyton Cupit, and Morgan Robinson recorded 8 stops. Zack Wilson recovered a fumble for the Cobras.
The Cobras, 5-1, 1-1, hit the road to Enterprise Friday. Game time is 7:00 p.m.
