Published: September 13, 2008 11:50 pm            

Southwestern wears down high-powered Cards 46-42

LONDON — An ole fashioned shoot-out.

That’s what football fans got Friday night at Gilliam Field on the campus of South Laurel High School, with the visiting Southwestern Warriors prevailing over the home standing Cardinals, 46-42.

“If you are a football fan and didn’t enjoy tonight, something’s wrong,” Southwestern coach Dale Anderson said. “This is a tough place to win against a great football team. Both teams played well enough to win. It was a shame someone had to lose.”

“Any time you lose it’s a tough one,” South coach Jason Chappell said. “We could have played better tonight against the run. We still have some getting better to do.”

The Warriors (2-1, 1-0) were led on the ground by Adam White, who rushed for 167 yards and one touchdown. The Cards’ defense had a tough time stopping the bruising 6-2, 200 pounder.

When quarterback TT Wooldridge wasn’t handing the ball off to White, he was giving it to Jacob King, who scored four touchdowns (two on the ground, two receptions), or keeping it himself. Wooldridge ran for two scores while throwing for two.

White, King and Wooldridge grouped with the Warriors’ strong offensive line were able to take control of the game in the late stages after Southwestern had gained a slight scoring margin.

“We put the game in our offensive line’s hands and they took control of the game and went with it,” Anderson said. “I really thought TT (Wooldridge) played a great game. He checked off 4 or 5 times at the line of scrimmage and several times he turned a bad play into a good play. And of course, Our running game was exceptional.”

For South Laurel, quarterback Ricky Bowling threw four more touchdown passes, giving him 109 for his career as he chases Tim Couch’s state record for TDs in a career. Bowling finished the game 21-32 for 301 yards. Jake Cobb had a big game receiving for the Cardinals (2-1, 0-1), catching five passes for 73 yards and a touchdown.

The Cardinals could have actually won the game, but a touchdown called back on a penalty, something that plagued South Laurel last week in their win over North Laurel.

The Cards took the opening kickoff and drove 80 yards in 11 plays, capped off by a four-yard pass from Bowling to Cobb for the score. Justin Lewis added the point after, and South Laurel held an early 7-0 lead.

Southwestern answered with a 65-yard drive of their own that saw White carry it in from four yards out with 4:35 remaining in the quarter. Nick Zimmerman’s PAT was true, and the game was tied 7-7. Fans knew right then and there they were in for a thrilling, high scoring game.

South scored on its next possession, this time on a 40 yard touchdown pass to Chris Mitchell for a 14-7 lead. The lead would grow to 21-7 with 9:30 left in the half when Steven Quillen scored from one yard out.

On Southwestern’s next possession, the Warriors drove down to the 28, and had second-and-one when King was stuffed by Brandon Lee. But the Cards were flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct, and what could have been a big defensive play instead moved the ball to 15. Wooldridge then scampered 15 yards for the score, cutting the Cardinal lead to 21-14.

South’s high-powered offense answered right back, this time Bowling hooked up with Blake Fields for a 27 yard scoring play, Lewis’ point after was good, giving the Cardinals a 28-14 lead with 3:20 left in the half.

Right back came the Warriors, as Wooldridge found King for a 40-yard score, cutting the lead to 28-21.

On South’s next possession, Bowling hooked up with Quillen, but he was stripped of the ball by Joe Thacker. Throw in a facemask penalty on the Cardinals, and the Warriors found themselves in good shape with the ball on the South Laurel 25.

But three straight incompletions, and a missed 42-yard field goal attempt by Zimmerman, left the Warriors trailing by seven at the half.

Southwestern had the ball to start the second half, and when King raced 33 yards for the score, the lead was cut to 28-27 early in the third.

The Cards, facing a third-and-five on their next possession, saw Bowling hit Cobb, who broke some tackles and raced 80 yards for an apparent score. But the Cards were called for an illegal block and holding, so instead of building on their lead, South now faced a third-and-eight on their own 17.

Two plays later, the Cards were forced to punt.

Southwestern took advantage with a 13-play, 55 yard drive that ate up nearly seven minutes off the clock, culminating with a King one yard run. The try for two failed, and with 2:28 left in the third, Southwestern had its first lead of the game, 33-28.

On the ensuing kick-off, the Cards fumbled, and Southwestern recovered on the 23. Four plays later, Wooldridge ran in from one yard out, and with 27 seconds left, the lead was now 39-28.

Back came the Cards, as Quillen fielded the kick-off on the 20 and raced 80 yards to pay dirt. Bowling hit Cobb for the two-point conversion, and South cut the lead down to three, 39-36.

Southwestern would answer, as Wooldridge hit King down the left side for a 53-yard score with 11:45 left in the game. Zimmerman’s PAT made it 46-36.

Just when it looked like the Warriors had a little breathing room, the Cards would come right back, this time on a four-play, 65-yard drive that saw Bowling dump a little pass off to Cobb, who raced 35 yards for the score.

The point after sailed wide right, and with 10:40 left, Southwestern’s lead was down to four, 46-42.

But the Cards could get no closer, and ended up losing in the first district game for both teams.

“Even though the scoreboard might not look like it, this was a good game by both defenses,” Anderson said. “This is the best South Laurel defense I’ve seen. The two defenses played their butts off, and the two offenses made things happen.”

“I was really proud of our defense, because we made some defensive adjustments at halftime and they stepped up to only allow one South Laurel score in the third quarter,” Anderson added.

“It’s gut check time for us now,” Chappell said, as his Cardinals have to prepare for Corbin next Friday. “We’ve got to make the commitment to practice better. I made mistakes tonight, too. I messed some things up. This one’s on me. We’ll get better. They made a few more plays than we did tonight.”

The Warriors will stay in the district to take on Mercer County at Harrodsburg on Friday.

“If we play like we did tonight, I feel we have a good chance to beat Mercer,” Anderson said.



Southwestern 46,

South Laurel 42

SW 7 14 18 7—46

SL 14 14 8 6—42



SL—Ricky Bowling, 4 pass to Jake Cobb (Justin Lewis kick).

SW—Adam White, 4 run (Nick Zimmerman kick).

SL—Bowling, 40 pass to Chris Mitchell (Lewis kick).

SL—Steven Quillen 1 run (Lewis kick).

SW—TT Wooldridge, 15 run (Zimmerman kick); SL—Bowling, 27 pass to Blake Fields (Lewis kick).

SW—Wooldridge, 40 pass to Jacob King (Zimmerman kick).

SW—King, 33 run (kick failed).

SW—King, 1 run (pass failed).

SW—Wooldridge, 1 run (pass failed).

SL—Quillen, 80 kickoff return (Bowling pass to Cobb);

SW—Wooldridge, 53 pass to King (Zimmerman kick).

SL—Bowling, 35 pass to Cobb (kick failed).



RUSHING — White 30-169 1 TD, King, 14-109 2 TD, Wooldridge 11-52 2 TD, Mitchell 1-14.

PASSING — Wooldridge 6-15-127 2 TD.

RECEIVING — King 2-96 2 TD, Williams 1-11, Jones 3-22.

        

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