Cordele — By HARVEY SIMPSON

Dispatch Sports Editor



CORDELE — Troup County’s grind-it-out infantry tactics worked just well enough to overcome Crisp County’s quick-strike aerial antics and give the Tigers a 30-24 non-region win Friday night over the Cougars.

That outcome left both teams with identical 1-1 records heading into the third week of the 2010 season where Crisp launches a four-game road trip by making a visit this Friday to Houston County’s Bears.

“All they did was power it down our throats,” Cougar head coach Sean Pender said in reflecting upon the 229 yards Troup gained on a whopping 51 carries. “They went into an overload set and ran strong. When they did,  they were successful as we tried to stop them but couldn’t.”

The Cougars helped Troup’s cause, too, giving it a 2-0 lead 5:31 into the game when they snapped the ball out of their end zone for a safety. The Tigers returned the ensuing kickoff 25 yards to the Crisp 33 where after an offsides penalty they connected on a 37-yard fourth down scoring pass for a 9-0 advantage 7:54 into the contest.

After having a 42-yard pass play negated by penalty and dodging a bullet when Troup kicker Jordan Vann misfired on a 36-field goal try, the Cougars used an 80-yard, 9-play scoring drive to claw their way back into contention.

Van Williams’ 20-yard burst opened the series that was also aided by double-digit pass completions of 12 yards to Luke Whitman and 18 yards to Michael Paul before a 16-yard shovel pass to Williams netted a TD.

After an exchange of punts, Crisp needed just 56 seconds to travel 57 yards in four plays for a 12-9 go-ahead score. Paul got it on a 20-yard grab from Trevor Shealy who the play before had found Jontavious

Please see TROUP page 2B

Carter for a 22-yard gain.

The Cougars fell behind for good when the Tigers took the second half kickoff and went 65 yards in six running plays all by highly-heralded Quan Bray. His 57-yard scamper to the 18 set up his 3-yard scoring plunge.

Right after that, Troup, which didn’t throw a single pass after intermission, got a boost from its defense that forced Crisp to punt from its own 6 to the 36. Six snaps later, James Newson barged into the end zone from the 3.

Determined to not throw in the towel when there was still over 16 minutes left to play, the Cougars zipped 80 yards in only three snaps with the payoff coming on Shealy’s 56-yard toss to Carter on a fly pattern down the right sideline. A missed PAT kick left the score at 24-18.

The Tigers went on to score their final points on a 2-yard plunge by Bray, who on the night ran 25 times for 111 yards. That TD gave the visitors a 30-18 edge with 12.6 seconds left in the third period.

Crisp’s defense did come up with a big stop when it tackled Bray a yard short of a first down at the Cougar 33 7:54 from the finish.  Aided by a 15-yard fourth down penalty against Troup that gave them a first down, the hosts traveled 67 yards in 12 snaps to pull within the final six-point difference.

Paul’s 14-yard grab of a deflected fourth-down pass over the middle with 4:50 remaining produced the touchdown three plays after he had snared a 24-yard toss.

The home team got the ball back with 1:48 to go and thanks to a 31-yard toss from Shealy to Williams earned a first down at the Troup 44. A procedure penalty and four straight incompletions kept Crisp from advancing any further, however.

“We had a shot but couldn’t quite pull it off,” Pender said in his final reflections. “Still, I thought we played better this week  than  last week.”

Score by Quarters

Troup County 9-0-21-0 — 30

Crisp County 0-12-6-6 — 24

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

6;29 T — Safety, Crisp snapped ball out of the end zone.

4:06 T — Eric Hutchinson 37 pass from Brannon Smith (Jordan Vann kick)

Second Quarter

9:14 C — Van Williams 16 pass from Trevor Shealy (kick blocked)

1:11 C — Michael Paul 20 pass from Shealy (pass failed)

Third Quarter

9:26 T — Quan Bray 3 run (Vann kick)

4;35 T — James Newson 9 run (Hutchinson pass from Smith)

4:02 C — Jontavious Carter 56 pass from Shealy (kick failed)

0;12.6 T — Bray 2 run (run failed)

Fourth Quarter

4:50 C — Paul 14 pass from Shealy (kick failed)



Team Statistics

First Downs: T 14, C 17.

Rushes-Yards: T 52-229, C 24-59.

Yards Passing: T 65, C 273,

Passes C-A-I: T 4-8-0, C 18-35-1.

Fumbles-Lost: T 3-1, C 0-0.

Punts-Average: T 4-37.2, C 5-29.6.

Penalties-Yards: T 9-70, C 10-72.



Individual Statistics

  Rushing: Troup — Smith 8-21, Bray 25-111, Newson 9-25, Quindarius Heard 9-58, Jalen Hick 1-14; Crisp — Shealy 6-(-10), Williams 10-48, Jimmy Walker 6-31, team 2-(-10).

  Passing: Troup – Smith 4-8-0 65; Crisp - Shealy 18-35-1 273.

  Receiving: Troup — Bray 1-13, Newson 1-6, Hutchinson 1-37, Trae Bryant 1-9; Crisp — Williams 5-69, Luke Whitman 3-25, Paul 5-83, Carter 5-96.