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November 28, 2009

Raiders suffer nightmarish finish

By Jamie Wachter / executive sports editor The Meridian Star Sat Nov 28, 2009, 01:15 AM CST

JACKSON — One man's dream is another man's nightmare.

Heading into Friday's MAIS Class AA state championship game, Lamar coach Mac Barnes just wanted the Raiders to play well.

Instead Lamar started slow, turned the ball over five times and were unable to stop unbeaten Brookhaven Academy in a 63-28 loss at Millsaps College's Harper Davis Field.

"No, we didn't have a great game tonight, but you don't know what part of that is your team or if that's the other team," Barnes said.

Added Brookhaven coach Herbert Davis: "We got some wins early and got on a roll, and it's been a dream. It's just been a fantasy."

The Raiders' early struggles definitely had some help from Brookhaven's defense. Catching Lamar off-balance with its defensive scheme, the Cougars helped force Lamar quarterback Witt Haggard into misfires on his first six passes and the Raiders (12-2) into consecutive three-and-outs, followed by an interception.

"They came out in a totally different scheme than what we expected," Barnes added. "We had to adjust a little bit on our routes. They just played three linemen and they did a great job of stunting out of that or dropping into coverage.

"They gave us the best defensive scheme we've seen all year. And they executed it. Other people have lined up in it, but didn't execute it."

Said Davis: "I really thought our defense played outstanding tonight.

"That was one of our best defensive games all year long and we actually had some chances to make some more plays, but dropped some picks tonight. It was just a great job by our kids preparing all week and understanding what we needed to do to try and give him several different looks."

With Lamar's offense stuck in neutral, Brookhaven (15-0) began to pull away. After a three-and-out on its initial drive, the Cougars ran over the Raiders to go ahead 15-0 at the end of the first quarter. Following a 69-yard punt from Bo Bidgood that backed Brookhaven up to its own 6, the Cougars proceeded to run on 10 of the ensuing drive's 11 plays, completed by Jennings Mills' 2-yard run.

After Alan Michael Allred intercepted Haggard on the next Lamar drive, Brookhaven's offense took to the air. Backed into a third-and-15, Chandler Rogers found Mills streaking all alone down the middle of the field for a 77-yard scoring strike and the Cougars were in control.

Lamar, though, would battle back. On the first play of the second quarter, Haggard would connect with Bidgood on a 72-yard touchdown pass and the teams would trade touchdowns on their next possessions. However, following a 15-yard touchdown pass from Rogers to Tripp Jolly with 2:08 left in the half that put Brookhaven up 29-14, the Cougars started to bury Lamar.

Following a turnover on downs at the Brookhaven 48, the Cougars took just six plays to strike again, this time a 14-yard scoring pass from Rogers to Christian Keene. On the subsequent kickoff, Lamar's Justin Goldacker fumbled and Brookhaven recovered at the 23 with 13 seconds left. Two plays later, Tyler Trout hit a 31-yard field goal to send the Cougars up 38-14 at the half.

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