‘Canes Lose Homecoming Game
Last Friday night the ‘Canes lost 28-7 to the Patriots from Westside-Augusta, a team which turned out to be much better than their record of 3-2 indicated. After all, their two losses were to Greene County (ranked no. 4 in the state) and by 1 point to Lakeside Evans, a AAAA team.
The Patriots scored on their first drive, missed the extra point and led 6-0 with 9:00 left in the first quarter.
The ‘Canes put together a decent drive to the Patriots 40, but were forced to punt and the Patriots took over on offense at their own 25. But this time the ‘Cane defense held, forced a punt and took over on their own 30, couldn’t move the ball, and had to punt it right back.
Once again the ‘Canes held and took over on their own 32, but had to punt for the third time as the first quarter came to an end.
This time the Patriots came up with a big running play from their own 40, taking it all the way for a touchdown, passed for 2 points on the extra point play and led 14-0 with 11:00 left in the half.
After the kick off, the ‘Canes started from their own 30 and finally put together a sustained drive, which led to a touchdown when Justin Brown ran into the end zone from the 5 yard line. The extra point kick was good and with 6:46 left int the first half the ‘Canes were down 14-7.
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The Patriots came back with their own drive, completed a 40 yard pass to the ‘Cane 29, and ran to the ‘Cane 5 before they turned the ball over on a fumble. The ‘Canes couldn’t run or pass themselves out of the hole and had to punt from their 10 yard line.
The Patriots took over on the ‘Cane 40, and scored seven plays later on a 20 yard pass play. The extra point kick was good and the Patriots led 21-7 with just seconds left in the first half.
The ‘Canes put an impressive drive together opening the second half, but it fizzled at the Patriots 30, and the Patriots once again drove the field and scored on a 20 yard pass. The extra point kick was good and the Patriots led 28-7 with 2:12 left in the third quarter.
The remainder of the game turned into a defensive battle and neither team was able to score, or even muster a threat, as the ‘Canes suffered their third straight loss.
Head Coach Doug Huff said of the game, “We just didn’t play the way we needed to play, even though we had a good week of practice the week before. I fully expected us to get back on the right track, but we just didn’t come out and do that. The game was very similar to the way we played against Putnam Co., which in this region is not going to be good enough to beat people. We did some good things and had some kids who played very hard, but we just couldn’t get everyone on the same page.”
The ‘Canes travel to Augusta this Friday for a game against the Josey Eagles. Even though the Eagles are winless with a record of 0-6, Coach Huff said, “We have to go over there and respond. I told the team, we have two ways to go—we can either fold the tent or respond. I expect to go over there, play hard and do what we need to do. They are athletic–very athletic and have an athletic quarterback similar to Laney’s. But I expect to go there, play hard and get this thing back in right direction.”
Young ‘Canes
The ‘Cane Jr. Varsity was off last week. Their next scheduled game is at home vs. Morgan next Thursday, Oct. 13 at 5 p.m.
The Middle School ‘Cane’s game scheduled for last week in the consolation round was pushed up to yesterday at home vs. Carver.