It was one of those games where the scoreboard doesn’t tell the whole story. The Little Cypress-Mauriceville Bears were defeated by Silsbee to open district play 38-21. But the game was closer than the score indicates.
The Bears opened the game with a 12 play 76 yard drive that ended with a 16 yard touchdown pass from Chris Winters to Beau Bickham on a fourth and seven play. The Tigers responded with an 11 play drive for a score and a two point conversion for an 8-7 lead. Silsbee started most of their drives at midfield and they increased their lead in the second quarter with another TD and 2 pointer for a 16-7 lead.
LCM then put together an 11 play drive capped by a 2 yard TD run by J’Lon Douglas to cut the lead 16-14. Then it got interesting.
With two and a half minutes left in the half the Bears attempted what appeared to be an onside kick. Silsbee recovered at the 47 and thanks to the play of quarterback Dontrae Thomas, they made quick work of half the field, needing only a minute to score. The 2 pointer made it 24-14.
The Bears got the ball back with 1:20 left and with a 30 yard run by Winters, had a chance to score a touchdown or at least kick a field goal within Tyler Brown’s range. With six seconds left and no timeouts from the six yard line, LCM called for another pass play and it was intercepted at the one yard line as the half ended.
When the second half began, Silsbee went three and out and the Bears got the ball and put together an impressive 15 play drive that included two fourth down conversions. But it ended with no points and the Tigers took over at midfield and Thomas scored his third TD eight plays later to make it 31-14.
With 11 minutes left in the game, Douglas had a 44 yard run that set the Bears at the one where Douglas scored on the next play to cut the lead to 31-21.
Again it looked like the Bears would have a chance to get in the game when a 15 yard penalty gave Silsbee their worst starting field position at their own 14 yard line. But a 13 play drive ended with Silsbee scoring on a 30 yard screen pass on a fourth and 8, capping the 17 point victory. Silsbee racked up 317 total yards to the Bears 285.
LCM travels to Splendora next Friday.
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