By Joe Joe Wright

joejoe.wright@cordeledispatch.com

The Cougars are back!! After shooting themselves in the foot several times in the first half and scoring a lone field goal by Brandon Thompson of 27 yards. The cats were down at half time 14-3. “We stunk up the first half with mental errors and miscues,” said head Coach Shelton Felton. The cats gave Americus a big touchdown early in the 1^st quarter when they hit on a well-executed 40-yard pass right down the middle of Cougar Den to go up 7-0. Crisp answered with the above mentioned field goal and brought the score to 7-3. After a number of Crisp County miscues Americus scored on a 5-yard rush in the 2^nd quarter to take a 14-3 halftime lead. For the most part the first half of play was Crisp County hiking the ball low while in the shotgun and an incalculable amount of off sides and other penalties.

Reborn:

The 2^nd half of play the Cougars took the opening kick off and shoved it down the throat of Americus, when Brandon Dowdell ended the series with an 18-yard carry for a Cougar touchdown. Thompson PAT was good and the Cougars were down 14-10. The Cougars kicked off and recovered a Panther fumble. The Cougars took advantage of the miscue and quarterback Patrick Felton rambled 7 yards for the second Cougar touchdown, the PAT by Thompson was good again and the Cougars led for the first time 17-14. It was during this second half transformation that the Cougar defense just took over and stifled anything that Americus wished to do.

The Cougars got the ball again in the 3^rd quarter and quickly marched down the field and this time Jammie Robinson plunged in from 2 yards out and Thompson made the kick and the score was Crisp 24 and Americus 14. It was not over yet as Americus was picked off by #4 Quay Walker and the Cougars were back on offense for the 4^th time in the third quarter. Big bad De’Angelo Griffin who usually plays defensive line ran a two yard blast to score with 3.3 seconds left in the third quarter and the Cougars went up 31-14 after the Thompson PAT. That would end all the scoring but the 28 unanswered points put up by Crisp County says one thing. In a game against Crisp County’s all time biggest rival and with a number of starters out with injuries and several playing hurt, the Cougars showed they have courage and are not afraid to fight back. The Cougars won the turn over battle as Americus fumbled twice and had one interception and the Cougars had one fumble lost. “It was good win over a quality team and I am very proud of how the boys stepped up in the second half, they showed character,” said Coach Felton. Statistics for the Cougars will be made available at later date. Crisp County travels to Ashburn to play Turner County in their first road game of the year.