RSS Feed
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Leroy 25, Fyffe 20: Back-to-Back
Fyffe controlled the game for the first three quarters using their misdirection running game to keep the Leroy defense guessing. The Red Devils got on the board first when Norbert Blum nailed a 30-yard field goal with 11:11 left in the first half to take a 3-0 lead. "Fyffe has an outstanding team," Leroy coach Danny Powell said. "They have a big offensive line, and they can all move. We were surprised by how quick their offensive line was. It was a great football game. They executed their offense very well, and we had trouble stopping them. A couple times we thought we had them bottled up, and they got away from us. They executed well and made us miss. Finally, we just got our guys to stay inside and read the keys instead of getting mesmerized by all the ball fakes. We finally got to where we could read the guards and make the plays instead of chasing them all around the field."
The Red Devils took over and milked over six minutes off the clock and marched 76 yards to take the lead back when Kyle Greeson sprinted in from 17 yards out to give Fyffe a 10-7 halftime lead. Fyffe took the opening drive of the second half and went straight down the field with Greeson scoring again, this time from 21 yards on a third down-and-12. Blum's PAT pushed the Red Devil lead to 17-7 with 6:08 to go in the third quarter.
After a slow start in the first half by the Leroy offense that was literally inches away from several big pass plays, the Bears woke up after falling behind by 10. Moseley led the Bears straight down the field and found Rivers for a 28-yard touchdown to cap the drive and send a message that Leroy was not going to go down without a fight. Detrick Powell was stuffed in the backfield on the two-point try but the Bears closed the gap to 17-13. "Coach just told me to gain confidence because I wasn't stepping into my throws in the first half," Clint Moseley said of his slow first half in which he only threw for 79 yards. "The defense started making stops and that gave me confidence, and we started moving the ball and before you know it, we were skyhigh." Fyffe took the ball 43 yards on their ensuing possession before Blum, an exchange student from Germany who had his parents fly in to watch him for the first time this season, connected on a Super 6 record 43-yard field goal to put the Red Devils up 20-13 with 11:55 to go in the game. Blum's two field goals were his first attempts all season. But Michael Bracey returned the next kickoff 50 yards to the Fyffe 39 to shift the momentum back to Leroy. Moseley connected with Steven Scoggins for a 21-yard gain on first-and-20 after a penalty, and then hit Scoggins for 21 more to set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Detrick Powell. Fyffe's Taylor Thrash blocked Gartman's extrapoint try to leave the Bears trailing 20-19 with 9:55 to go. The Leroy defense held the Red Devils to three downs and out to give the ball back to the Bears' offense.
"When coach called the play, I was thinking the whole time: 'All I want to do is score,'" Rivers said of the play, known in Leroy's playbook as Rocket. "The offensive line and wide receivers made the blocks and I just tried my best to get in the end zone." Rivers had seven receptions for 120 yards and three touchdowns in the win and set the 2A Super 6 record for receptions (7) and touchdown receptions (three). Fyffe wracked up 220 yards rushing but only managed 11 yards on 2-7 passing and was held without a first down in the fourth quarter. The 20 points scored by the Red Devils was their lowest scoring output of the season. Fyffe entered the Super 6 having scored 696 points, the most of any team in state history. The Red Devils outscored their opponents 696- 192. "They stepped it up," Fyffe coach Paul Benefield said of Leroy's defense. "There was a fatigue factor, too. I've got guys here who played every play and their defensive line, all of them play one way. "But they've got a great team, coach (Danny) Powell does a great job and that's why they've won state three out of four years."
Leroy coach Danny Powell is now 27-3 with two state championships in his two years as head football coach.
|
for larger version       |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
)
)
)
)
