The methodical Woodville Eagles ran the football on every play except one Friday night at Battlin’ Bear Stadium. The Eagles’ running game propelled them to a 28-14 win over the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Bears.
Woodville (1-1) evened its record with the win by scoring the final 21 points of the game. The start of the season for LC-M was delayed because of Tropical Storm Harvey. The Bears drop to (0-1).
The Eagles used a packed backfield and six different runners to gain close to 400 yards on the ground. The lone pass came on a third-and-10 which quarterback Reese Shaw completed to Tyren Beatty for 20 yards.
With the drive kept alive through the air, the Eagles went back to the ground game. Zack Martin scored on a 4-yard run during which he was untouched thanks to some excellent misdirection by Woodville. That score made it 21-14 with 8:30 to play in the game.
The final touchdown was also made by Martin. His 11-yard run came with just 1:19 left in the game.
The Bears had the lead twice. LC-M took the opening kickoff and despite several penalties and fumbled snaps took the initial lead. Quarterback Ethan McCollum completed three passes on the drive. Dameon Morris caught two of them including an 8-yard completion for the touchdown. The point after hit the upright, and the Bears led 6-0 with 6:09 left in the first quarter.
A 14-play, 65-yard drive resulted in the first score for Woodville. David Whitehead found the end zone from 21 yards out. The point after by Tyler Greer put the Eagles on top 7-6.
Little Cypress-Mauriceville regained the lead late in the first half. The key play was a facemask penalty on Woodville when Landon Bearden tried to run from punt formation which resulted in an important first down for the Bears.
The running game clicked for LC-M as Christopher Winters carried the ball inside Woodville’s 20. J’Lon Douglas took over from there and got the touchdown from the three. The Bears went for two, and Douglas bulled his way into the end zone to give LC-M at 14-7 advantage with just 1:19 before halftime.
It would only take three plays for the Eagles to retake the lead. After a short run Damicheal Brooks cut loose for 21 yards to the Bears’ 29. Martin scored his first touchdown of the night by breaking a couple tackles before sprinting into the clear for the score. Martin showed good second effort to convert the two-point conversion to put Woodville up 15-14 at the half.
A trio of Bears had outstanding games in the loss. Winters rushed for 97 yards on 16 carries, unfortunately only 17 in the second half. McCollum was remarkably accurate throwing the football. He completed 14 of 17, but was successful on his first 12 passes. McCollum threw for a touchdown and 141 yards. Morris caught seven passes for 126 yards.
The Little Cypress-Mauriceville Bears travel to Orangefield to play the Bobcats next week. That game will be the season opener for Orangefield. Woodville plays at Liberty next Friday night.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
Woodville 0 15 0 13- 28
LC-M 6 8 0 0- 14
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