Down 27-14 at the half, it was important that the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Bears get off to a good start in the second half if they wanted to be district champions. And the good news is that they were getting the ball first.
But the Bears gave away the football on the first two kick off returns and quickly found themselves down by 19 as fans began to leave. But the Bears weren’t done.
They put together a drive late in the third, capped it off with a 9 yard run by J’Lon Douglas for a TD and a 2pt conversion. Then the defense stepped up and held the Rattlers to a three and out. The offense got the ball back and quickly QB Ethan McCollum found a wide open Tyreke Brown for a 35 yd. TD. Another 2 pt conversion made in 33-30 Navasota with 10:43 left.
The Rattlers countered with a 10 play drive that had them a first and goal at the three. But a negative play and a penalty later and they were looking at a second and goal from the 23. But on the next play QB Jeb Malek threw a pass into triple coverage in the end zone. The ball went through three arms and into the hands of Ronnie Jackson for a score, giving the Rattlers a 40-30 lead with five minutes left.
The Bears failed on a fourth and five from the Rattler 34 on the next drive but got the ball back after a Navasota fumble. However the Bears weren’t able to advance the ball as the clock ran out, giving the Rattlers the 10 point victory. Douglas finished as the rushing leader for LCM, running for 96 yards on 12 carries, all in the second half after starting RB Chris Winters left the game with what was said to be a possible concussion. QB McCollum was 15-27 for 164 yds. and two TD’s.
Navasota and Silsbee finished district 4-1 and the Tigers will go into the playoffs as the number one team from 10-4A after beating Navasota head to head. LCM will take the third place spot at 3-2 and will play Kilgore in Lufkin on Thursday at 7:30. Huffman beat out Bridge City for the fourth playoff spot.
Social Media