‘Canes Drop Another Heartbreaker
We all know the Canes played their first game of the season vs. the 4A Walnut Grove Warriors and lost in the final seconds of the game.
Well the exact same thing happened last Friday night vs. long time rival the Jackson Red Devils. The Canes fought hard through all the adversity to try and pull out a win over the Red Devils.
Unfortunately, we fell short once again 29-26, Red Devils.
The captains were Lane Thomas, Garrison Williams and Jordan Stone.
The Red Devils received the ball first and started charging down field immediately. The Red Devils star athlete got a huge run and was eventually brought down by our own Jay Johnson around the 7 yard line. Unfortunately, about a minute later the Red Devils scored their first touchdown of the game with a short pass. The score was 7-0 about two minutes into the game.
With the Canes first offensive drive of the game, quarterback Thomas Deraney called his own number and took it around the right side for a 69 yard touchdown run. The ‘Canes were quickly back in the game; with a missed extra point the score was now 7-6 Red Devils. Later in the quarter they continued to force turnovers with great defensive presence by Xavier Gude and a sack by Chris Anglin and Walt McMichael.
In the second quarter, the Canes started to gain some momentum. It all started with Thomas, when he broke up a third down pass which forced the Red Devils a fourth down.
On the Canes next offensive drive, Stone took a handoff from Deraney for a strong first down run. The next play, Deraney was at it again, called his number and this time around the left side, he took a long QB keeper to the house, which gave them their second score of the game; the ‘Canes were now up 12-7.
On the Red Devils next offensive drive, they tried a reverse, but it was immediately stopped in the backfield by Colton Clay, Jordan Stewart, and Gude. Later in the half, there was also great tackles by Garrett Scroggs, Jamaric Bonner, Gude, and Thomas. Halfway through the quarter, the Canes forced the Red Devils to be in a third down and long situation one more time.
With great coverage by the secondary, the pass was nearly intercepted by McMichael. However, the Canes were forced to punt right before the half. Red Devils handed it off to their powerful running back and he almost took it all the way, before he was stopped by Matthew Lawson. With just under 25 seconds left to play in the half, the Red Devils tried for a pass in the end zone, and it was also intercepted by Lawson. The Canes eventually let the time run out and were up 12-7 at halftime.
The Canes received the ball at the beginning of the second half on their own 19. The first offensive drive was kind of slow and they were eventually forced to punt. However on the defensive side of the ball, Garrison Williams made a presence. Few plays later, McMichael was there and intercepted a pass with a long acrobatic run; McMichael brought it all the way to the 10 yard line.
With about four minutes left in the quarter, the Canes scored one more time, in which Stone got the credit on a short powerful run. The score is now 19-7, Canes. Unfortunately, the Red Devils go back to their star athlete and he scores again, making it 19-14. At this point, the game started to get very interesting.
Just as the fourth quarter started, the Canes had the ball, and Stone and Johnson both had great runs resulting in first downs.
Unfortunately, the Canes turned the ball over with 9:15 in left in the game, giving the Red Devils another opportunity. Credit goes to the Canes defense, because with about five minutes left in the game, they forced a Red Devils turnover. The Canes got the ball back, but the Red Devils played equal defense which forced the Canes to punt with two minutes left in the game.
You could only imagine who the Red Devils gave the ball too, their best player again, and he took it for another touchdown, the score was now 22-19, Red Devils.
However the Canes didn’t lie down just yet. After a great return by Lawson, Deraney hit Thomas for a first down pass and then Thomas quickly stepped out of bounds to stop the clock. The Canes tried a reverse with Lawson and it worked, which resulted in a first down. It was time to go deep with a minute left in the game, Deraney hit Stone for a touchdown, which gave the Canes the lead, 26-22.
At this point, one would think the Canes are in good hands.
However, the Red Devils threw a pass which resulted in a big gain, and was tackled by Deraney around the 15 yard line. The clock was quickly running out, and Johnson had great coverage on a receiver which forced a fourth and long with about 20 seconds remaining.
In the final play of that drive, the Red Devils score from a pass with 14 seconds left in the game. The score was now 29-26, Red Devils.
After a great return from Thomas, the time quickly expired, which gave the Canes their second straight heartbreaking loss of the season.
Coach Doug Huff said, “We competed hard, I’m very proud of them for their effort. We played decent overall on both sides of the ball. We have quite a few errors to correct, and we have to learn how to finish.”
Senior Xavier Gude said, “We played pretty good in the beginning, and we should’ve executed better on offense and defense. We played hard, and were constantly getting better, and the success is going to come.”
The ‘Canes will travel to Macon to play the First Presbyterian Day Vikings this Friday at 7:30 p.m.. First Presbyterian Day is a 1A private school. similar to us in size and are mostly likely to set up in a 4-3 defense. So as the coaching staff and the Canes continue to work hard this week, be sure to come out this Friday and support your team.
Go Canes!