A change in the schedule got the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Bears the opportunity to play the Crosby Cougars Friday night at Battlin’ Bear Stadium. It may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but the consequence was a 58-14 thumping by the visiting Cougars of the Bears.
Crosby (4-0) jumped ahead early and never trailed in the game. Little Cypress-Mauriceville (1-2) also moved up its homecoming festivities a week. Lani Daniels was crowned as the Homecoming Queen and Tommy Holland was named the Homecoming King in a pregame ceremony.
The opening kickoff was a sign of things to come. Kooper Abernathy appeared to have made a brilliant kick that sailed over the head of Crosby’s deepest return man and into the end zone. Craig Williams retreated into the end zone, picked up the ball, and then headed straight up the middle. The Cougars formed a perfect wedge which Williams raced through before cutting to his right down the sideline where he avoided a tackle at about the ten for a 102-yard kickoff return just 13 seconds into the game. The point after by Yardley Cruz gave Crosby a 7-0 lead.
LC-M held the ball only three plays as the Cougars’ Chris Thomas intercepted a pass and returned it to the Bears’ 9. Three plays later the score was 13-0 on a 19-yard pass from Jaiden Howard to Cedric Patterson with just 2:12 played in the game. The kick was blocked by the Bears.
The Bears would make the score the closest it would be the rest of the game on their next drive. Ethan McCollum completed both his passes to Katon Brown good for a combined 32 yards. McCollum picked up six yards on the ground. Chris Winter got a first down on his first carry of seven yards and a touchdown on his second run of six yards to culminate the drive. The point after kick failed to keep the 13-6 with 6:54 left in the first quarter.
The remainder of the first half was all Crosby as they scored on every possession until it got the ball with less than a minute to play in the half. After its scoring drive LC-M would only manage three more first downs in the half while committing two more turnovers and surrendering a safety when the long snap on an attempted punt went over Abernathy’s head after which he just kicked the ball out of the end zone. The two teams went to the locker rooms with the Cougars leading 50-6.
Substitutes saw action in the second half for Crosby. The Cougars played a little more conservative as well as a running clock in the fourth quarter sped up play in the second half.
Another errant snap for the Bears from punt formation on their first possession of the third quarter resulted in another safety making the score 52-6. LC-M held the Cougars following the free kick forcing the first punt of the night from Crosby.
An impressive drive ensued as Little Cypress-Mauriceville drove 80 yards in 8 plays for its second touchdown. The drive started with a face masking penalty on Crosby. J’Lon Douglas busted a run up the middle for 19 yards to near midfield. Facing third-and-long, McCollum hit Dameon Morris for an 11-yard completion to setup a fourth-and-eight. McCollum then found Brown for a big 21-yard pass play for the first down to the Cougars’ 29.
McCollum ran for a first down to the 19. He then passed six yards to Adam Pope. McCollum called his own number and ran the ball in from the 13 for the six points. Winters made the two-point conversion with a run to the right side to make the score 52-14 with 1:41 left in the third period.
For the game McCollum completed 9 of 15 passes for 99 yards, but suffered two interceptions. He also was the leading Bear rusher with 52 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries.
Crosby closed out the scoring after another long kick return setup the Cougars up in Bears territory. Backup quarterback Kobe Coker passed to Patterson from the 11 for the touchdown.
The schedule changes for the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Bears has their bye week now next Friday. The Bears resume action in two weeks with the opening game of district at home against the Silsbee Tigers. Crosby plays a district contest at Kingwood Park next Friday.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
CROSBY 20 30 2 6- 58
LC-M 6 0 8 0- 14
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Before the game the Bears honored First Responders for their work during Tropical Storm Harvey.
photos by Jodi Purgahn, KOGT
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