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| WEEK 6 FOOTBALL: Silsbee 13, West Orange-Stark 7 |
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Posted: Friday, November 13, 2009 1:52 pm
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By GERRY L. DICKERT
The Bee
The Silsbee Tigers had lost three games in a row by a total margin of just 11 points.
For even the best teams, that’s a hard pill to swallow.
But finally, in the first game of the District 21-3A schedule, the Tigers fed a little of that medicine back to an opponent ... West Orange-Stark.
On a night when torrential rains pelted the sod at Tigers Stadium, it would be Silsbee that claimed one of the most distinctive victories in school history as it defeated the Mustangs 13-7.
West Orange-Stark had not lost a district game since it fell from Class 4A to 3A in 2004, ending its league win streak at 29 games.
More important though was the end of another streak of questions coming from fans and followers of the Tigers ... can Silsbee win the big games?
Two of the last three losses for the Tigers came against Jasper and Newton and both games came down to last-minute scores by Silsbee’s opponents.
This time, as the field muddied into a mosh pit, the Tigers’ defense would hold one of the most explosive offensive units in the state to just 65 yards of total offense, including only 21 yards in the second half. The Mustangs managed only four first downs in the game and only one in the second half, with about two minutes left in the game.
The weather conditions were an immediate factor in how West Orange-Stark’s offense moved the ball. After a one-yard run by running back Darius Mitchell, the Mustangs lost three yards on a fumble by quarterback Reggie Garrett. An incomplete pass forced a punt and Silsbee took over at its own 33 yard line.
While the Mustangs slogged through their first possession, the Tigers were amply successful in moving the ball on their first offensive try.
Rahkeem Bolton reeled off two quick runs of five and four yards to the Silsbee 42. Quarterback Jeremy Johnson got the first down to the 44 on a two-yard run, then Chris Barnes took a handoff for a yard to the 44.
It was then that, against all odds, Johnson hit Kelson McDaniel for a 27-yard pickup and a first down at the WO-S 28-yard line.
Barnes ran to the ball, but lost back to the 31 when Johnson took the ball and scooted to the 25, giving the Tigers a third-and-7 to overcome. Johnson went to his favorite receiver of late, Prentice Lane, tossing the ball high for Lane to leap up and grab. But unlike the handful of catches he made like this against Jasper, Lane was unable to pull down the reception, leaving Silsbee with a fourth-down field goal attempt.
The 32-yard field goal fell short but the first of the Mustangs’ four costly penalties, a running into the kicker call, put the Tigers at the WO-S 12 with an automatic first down.
In spite of a bad snap, Johnson was able to corral the ball and spring through the Mustang defense on the next play for 12 yards and a 6-0 lead. Caleb Henry hit the extra point for a 7-0 advantage for Silsbee with 6:15 left in the first quarter.
Once again, the Silsbee defense held as WO-S tried to get something going offensively on its next possession. After the punt, Silsbee lined up at its own 20 and began to march again, moving to the 29 yard line.
Johnson took the snap and started looking for a receiver. After what seemed like an eternity, the senior QB tucked the ball and ran to the 6 yard line for a first-and-goal with 46 seconds left in the first quarter.
On the next play, a bad snap resulted in a fumble and WO-S recovered to end the Silsbee scoring threat.
After trading punts for most of the rest of the first half, it would be the Mustangs defense that would come up with the first big play for WO-S.
The Mustangs had held Silsbee deep in its own territory, forcing a punt attempt from the 17 yard line.
The long snap went awry, giving the Mustangs defense enough time to close on the punter and block his attempt. The ball caromed back into the end zone and Da’ Jewel Nelson fell on the ball for the touchdown. Justin Sparrow booted the extra point and the game was tied at 7-7.
On the ensuing kickoff, Darian Turk took the offering at the 16 yard line and nearly broke it to the end zone, getting stopped finally at the West Orange-Stark 45.
The drive featured four incomplete passes by Johnson, sandwiching one good run by the senior QB for 11 yards and a first down at the 34.
It was from there that Johnson threw one of his long bombs, attempting to connect with Turk near the visitor’s sideline.
The receiver and defender tumbled together as the ball arrived but no penalty flag appeared and the Tigers turned the ball over on downs.
WO-S was fine with just kneeling and running out the clock to end a dismal first half performance.
The Tigers took the first possession of the second half but were unable to do much, punting to the 24 yard line with Mustang returner Trey Franks bring it back to the WO-S 30 yard line.
On the first play from scrimmage, though, QB Garrett fumbled the snap and Silsbee recovered, taking possession again with 10:49 left in the third quarter, just 30 yards away from paydirt.
It took just three plays to move those 30 yards with Johnson moving the ball on runs of 11, 9 and the final 10 yards for the score.
On the extra-point try, the wet ball slipped through the hands of the holder and the WO-S defense swarmed him as he tried to run for two points.
The Tigers were up 13-7 with 9:40 left in the third quarter.
Now it was breath-holding time.
Both teams swapped punts through the rest of the third quarter and the fourth quarter brought more heavy rains as the Mustangs tried to figure out just what they were going to do to either tie this game or go ahead with a touchdown and extra point kick.
But the Tigers defense continued to hold, stopping the Mustangs time after time. On a field goal attempt with 3:14 left in the game, the Tigers offense attempted to put any hope of a comeback out of reach.
Between the rain and increasing winds, a high snap went through the holder’s hands again, landing in the arms of the kicker. An attempt to run was cut short quickly by the WO-S defense, ending the threat.
The Mustangs had one last chance to go for the win. With the last-minute losses in the past several weeks, the scenario felt way too familiar to the Tigers.
Starting from their own 21, the Mustangs moved to the 33 yard line when Garrett connected with Mark Roberts on a pass good for 14 yards to the 47 with 1:31 left in the game.
Two incomplete passes ensued and, under pressure from the Tigers’ defense, Garrett threw up a desperation pass on third down only to be picked off by Silsbee’s Jarrian Rhone.
The Tigers kneeled on the ball twice to run out the clock, claiming a 1-0 record in District 21-3A play and an overall mark of 2-4.
The Tigers were led on offense by the play of Jeremy Johnson who had 85 yards passing and 63 yards rushing. He completed the first three of four attempts, but finished with a 3-of-15 mark for the game.
His only successful receiver of the night was McDaniel, who had all three catches for 85 yards.
Barnes finished with seven carries for 20 yards, Bolton had nine for 15 and Karrington Stanford had one tote for two yards.
The Tigers had three fumbles and lost two and had four penalties for 35 yards.
The Mustangs were led offensively by Darius Mitchell’s 37 yards rushing on 11 carries. Garrett added 19 yards on 12 carries and completed just 2 of 10 passing attempts for 8 yards with one interception.
The Mustangs are now 4-2 overall and 2-4 in District 21-3A play.
• • •
The Tigers will take on Bridge City this Friday in a homecoming showdown for the Silsbee faithful.
The Cardinals are 5-1 overall and 1-0 in district after defeating Hardin-Jefferson 20-10 this past Friday night.
The ground game for Bridge City is solid with Matt Menard leading the way with 604 yards on 97 carries with four touchdowns this year. Behind him are running back Cameron Dishon with 12 carries for 144 yards and quarterback Josh Lemoine with 54 carries for 138 yards.
And while the rushing game is in good hands, the passing game is also a threat as Lemoine has completed 37 of 91 pass attempts for 432 yards, eight touchdowns and four interceptions.
Five of those touchdown strikes have gone to Dishon, who has 13 catches for 248 yards.
Bridge City’s only loss so far this season has come at the hands of Class 4A Little Cypress-Mauriceville, 16-0, on Sept. 11.
After six games, the Tigers are being led by Johnson both in the air and on the ground. The senior quarterback, who verbally committed to West Virginia University earlier this year, has completed 73-of-140 pass attempts for 1,157 yards, 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He also has 142 yards on 94 rushes with four touchdowns.
Barnes is right behind Johnson in rushing with 35 carries for 113 yards and one toucdown this season.
Pheal Hill is still the top receiver on the team with 347 yards and four touchdowns on 19 receptions, while McDaniel moved up in the stats list after this past Friday and now had 302 yards on 12 catches with one touchdown.
Lane has 14 catches for 259 yards and two TDs, while Tigers teammate Barnes has 16 catches for 172 yards and two scores.
The Tigers struggled through non-district play, losing four in a row after mauling Houston Davis in the season-opener 57-13.
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