The Little Cypress-Mauriceville Bears played at Lumberton against the first place Raiders on Friday night. The Bears left Raider Stadium with a thrilling two-point victory, 33-31.
The triumph by Little Cypress-Mauriceville (6-2, 2-1) moves the Bears into a tie for second place. Lumberton (5-3, 2-1) with the loss dropped out of a first place tie with the Vidor Pirates.
Lumberton scored with under four minutes left in the game on a 61-yard drive culminating on a 16-yard pass from Lucas Powell to Trey Kersh. The Bears held a two point lead and needed to run out the clock to secure the win.
Quarterback Ashton Landry ran a quarterback draw for 13 yards to earn a huge first down to near midfield for Little Cypress-Mauriceville. Dwight Davis then broke an off tackle run for 36 yards to the Lumberton 12 for another first and allowed the Bears to eventually take a knee on third down as the clock ran out giving LC-M a hard earned victory.
The Bears got an excellent return on the opening kickoff by Carson Peet of 48 yards to the Lumberton 38. De’Marion Morris carried three times for a first down to the 28. On the next play Landry threw a touchdown pass to Keaton Rives in the back of the end zone. The point after kick failed, and Little Cypress-Mauriceville led 6-0 with only a minute and a half played in the game.
Lumberton responded with a 14-play, 64-yard drive that took almost five minutes off the clock. Raider quarterback Powell was 7 of 9 passing on the march including a 13-yarder to Kersh for the touchdown. Tanner Tipton’s kick put the Raiders up by one point with 5:28 left in the first quarter.
Then it was the Bears turn to execute a lengthy drive of 13 plays. Two personal foul penalties seem to have moved LC-M too far back, but Landry and Morris combined for 26 yards rushing to earn a first down near midfield.
Morris picked up two more first downs on runs of more than ten yards. The Raiders were flagged for a targeting hit to give LC-M a first down at the Raider 21. Landry ran for a first down to the 11 and passed to Peet for a first and goal at the one. Morris scored on the next play with 43 seconds left in the first. Justin Rainey kicked the point after to give the Bears a 13-7 advantage.
A bad snap led to the Raiders scoring a go ahead touchdown in the second quarter. The ball went over Bear punter Dean Reynolds’ head, he retrieved the ball in the end zone, and kicked it but it went just a few yards in the air where the Raiders’ Keith Olexa caught it in the end zone for an easy score. Lumberton led 14-13 with 7:33 left in the second quarter.
Little Cypress-Mauriceville launched a late scoring drive starting at its own 21. Landry broke loose on a quarterback draw for 45 yards to the Lumberton 9. Davis made a nice cutback and scored the next play to put the Bears on top 19-14 after the try for two failed with 2:40 to go in the half.
With their two-minute offense clicking the Raiders got the ball to the Bears’ 12 with seconds remaining. The Bear defense stiffened and forced the Raiders to settle for a 25-yard field goal by Tipton with four seconds left in the half.
The third quarter saw Lumberton regain the lead with a quick drive. Powell threw 40 yards to Brady Fuselier for the touchdown to put the Raiders up 24-19 with just over a minute gone in the second half.
It took the Bears about the same amount of time to retake the lead. Three running plays netted 43 yards for the Bears to enter the red zone. Landry ran around left end for the touchdown from the 15 to put LC-M up 26-24 with 8:40 left in the third quarter.
Defense took a back seat most of the night, but the Bear defense came up with a big stop the next time Lumberton had the ball. The Raiders moved to a first down at the Bears’ 23. A sack by Amier Washington on Powell set up a third and long. On fourth-and-four Powell was pressured by several Bears and threw up a desperation pass as he was going down that fell incomplete giving the Bears possession at their own 27.
Little Cypress-Mauriceville scored what proved to be the winning points on their drive. Landry connected with a wide open Davis over the middle for 33 yards which had 15 yards added to the gain for a roughing the passer on the Raiders.
Landry passed 13 yards to Morris who juked one Raider to miss before dancing into the end zone with 1:14 left in the third quarter. Rainey’s kick gave the Bears a 9-point lead and put them up by two scores which proved to be enough for the all-important win.
Landry and Morris both rushed for over 100 yards in the game with 115 and 110 respectfully. Landry also threw for 118 yard completing 7 of 14 passes. Davis chipped in with 68 yards on the ground and 33 yards on his one reception.
The Raiders’ Jaden Ward carried the ball 25 times for 117 yards. Powell was 28 of 39 passing for 210 yards
Little Cypress-Mauriceville will play at home against the Livingston Lions next Friday. Lumberton will host the Splendora Wildcats next week.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
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