Cats tough out road win at Forrest County AHS

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The GCHS defense spent a lot of time on the field Friday night at Brooklyn and struggled to shut down the Aggies’ running game. They were able to get stops at the end of each half and those proved to be the difference in the Wildcats’ 27-21 road win. GCHS defenders are shown here wrapping up an Aggie running back for a loss.
Photo by RUSSELL TURNER – Herald Editor

By STAN CALDWELL

Herald Correspondent

A sharp contrast in styles proved a tough nut to crack, but Greene County was up to the challenge Friday in Brooklyn.

The Wildcats opened a 14-0 lead in the opening quarter, and held off Forrest County AHS 27-21 in high school football action Friday night at the Aggies’ Henley Field.

The Wildcats improved to 3-1, while FCAHS lost for the second week in a row after a 2-0 start, while.

“That was crucial for us,” said Greene County coach Michael King. “You don’t want to get behind a team that does what (FCAHS) does on offense. Their game plan was to keep it close, keep everything in front of them on defense and grind it out on offense.

“They had an excellent game plan, so for us to jump on them like we did early was crucial.”

Greene County set the tone for the game in the opening minute of the game. Starting the game with the ball, the Wildcats needed just three plays to score, getting a big play on a 52-yard catch-and-run from senior quarterback Coby King to junior Jase Mathews.

“They’re just so athletic,” said FCAHS coach Larry Dolan. “They’re more athletic than we are, so we knew we had to take the air out of the ball, run it and limit their possessions, and that’s what we did. I’m proud of our effort, but we just didn’t get it done.”

For their part, the Aggies set the tone for their game after the touchdown, keeping the ball for six minutes and driving into Wildcat territory as far as the 23-yard-line.

But on fourth down, junior Cordarius Molten knocked away a pass to stop the Forrest County drive.

“Up front, we just had to be aggressive,” said junior linebacker Danon McLeod. “It was a matter of shutting the play down before they can get started in the backfield.”

King went right back to work, completing a 29-yard pass to junior Lakeus Franks into FCAHS territory, then getting the score on a 32-yard touchdown pass from King to junior Preston Stinson.

For the night, King completed 20 of 24 passes for 249 yards and three touchdowns. He was also the Wildcats’ leading rusher with 31 yards on six carries and another score.

Junior running back Lakeus Franks had 67 total yards on eight touches, while junior Jase Mathews had 115 total yards (97 on seven catches) and a TD. Junior Gage Stinson had three receptions for 45 yards and a TD, while his classmate, Javon Watts, caught four balls for 54 yards. In all, Greene County only ran the ball 15 plays for a modest 74 rushing yards.

The Wildcat offense moved the ball effectively against Forrest County AHS, but only had six total possessions. One possession ended in a 3-and-out and another ended deep in FCAHS territory with the Cats in the victory formation. Junior Jase Mathews is shown here following blockers to open ground on a 52-yard TD to start the scoring less than a minute into the game. Photo by RUSSELL TURNER | Herald Editor

“We get five receivers out on most every play,” said Michael King. “It’s the Air Raid, in the truest sense of the word. Those first two drives, I think we ran the ball once, maybe twice.

“But it’s a good, ball-control type passing game. We’re not throwing it 40 or 50 yards down the field a lot, although we will take our shots if teams give them to us. But tonight, they stayed in front of us and forced us to take what they were giving us, which was the short pass.”

Despite trailing by two touchdowns, Dolan stuck to his game plan, and this time it produced results. The Aggies ate up more than seven minutes off on a 14-play, 58-yard drive, scoring on 5-yard run off left tackle by senior Kanin Gill.

FCAHS ground out 17 first downs and 123 hard-earned rushing yards, but did not have a run longer than 9 yards.

Greene County answered with its best sustained drive of the night, a 13-play, 72-yard march. An 18-yard reverse on third down from Mathews got the Wildcats going, then King connected with junior Javon Watts for 15 yards and a first down at the Aggie 22.

King barreled in from 2 yards out for the touchdown, but the PAT kick went wide left keeping the score 20-7.

Greene County very nearly had a pick-6 to close the first half, when senior Tylan Blackston stepped in front of a pass from Aggie sophomore quarterback Parks Brock and appeared to have nothing between him and the end zone.

But Brock forced Blackston to slow down long enough en route to the score, allowing pursuit to catch him just short of the endzone as time expired in the half.

Given a reprieve, FCAHS resumed its methodical approach to start the second half, taking the first possession of the half 68 yards on 13 plays, using 5:58 off the clock, getting the score on a 2-yard run by senior Omarion Reed.

Along the way, the Aggies converted two fourth downs, one coming on a penalty, and they also converted a third-and-15 from the Wildcat 34 on a 29-yard halfback pass from junior Terrence Horne to senior Vincent Nelson to the GCHS 5.

Forrest County was only 4 of 12 on third down, but converted 6 of 7 on fourth down, and they controlled the ball for a whopping 30 minutes and 50 seconds of ball possession.

Greene County scored what proved to be the touchdown needed for its margin of victory following the Aggie score, using just five plays to go 55 yards.

The big play was a 26-yard catch-and-run on a bubble screen from King to Watts to the 7-yard-line, and King found Franks open on a swing pass to the left side, and Franks beat the pursuit to the pylon for the score.

“We’ve been getting off to a good start most of the season, but we can’t let teams come back like that,” said Coby King. “This game was closer than it should have been.

“There’s always that thought that creeps in when you get a lead real quick. You think, ‘all right, 14-0, we might be OK tonight.’ Before you know it, they come back and make a game of it. It’s never good to get complacent like that.”

Senior quarterback Coby King is shown here picking up good yardage against Forrest County AHS on Friday. King finished with 249 yards and 3 TDs passing and 31 yards rushing with another TD.
Photo by RUSSELL TURNER | Herald Editor

Again the Aggies answered, driving 71 yards on nine plays as the lop-sided time of possession began to tell on the Wildcat defense.

Two big pass plays highlighted the FCAHS drive, a 38-yard toss from Brock to freshman Cleveland Thompson and a 25-yard throw from Brock to Horne, and Reed scored his second touchdown of the game on a 1-yard run.

Having gotten the game back to a one-score affair, the Aggies got the only three-and-out of the game for either team to force a punt. And once again, Forrest County’s methodical approach appeared to pay off.

FCAHS got a pair of first downs to get the ball into Wildcat territory to the 35-yard-line. But on third-and-5, Reed lost 3 yards and a fourth-down pass was too low for the receiver and the ball went over on downs.

“We told our kids that if we get to the fourth quarter with them they’ll get tired and we can run it more effectively,” said Dolan. “We were just one first down away from being able to possibly throw it to the end zone.”

With 4:57 still on the clock, Greene County as able to get enough done on the ground to deny Forrest County the ball. A 17-yard pass from King to Mathews, then runs of 11 yards and 10 yards got the Wildcats a pair of first down needed to close the game out.

“I was proud of the way our defense bowed their necks on that last drive,” said Michael King. “They got the job done when they had to. Coach Dolan is one of the best play-callers in the game, and he kept us on our heels much of the game.”

The Aggies face another tough test when they host undefeated Seminary next Friday. Greene County returns to Leakesville next week to host Perry Central, who earned a blowout win on the road at North Forrest on Friday.