Tigers fall to Indians

The Tigers take the field.

Friday night the Caruthersville Tigers (2-1) hosted the Kennett Indians (2-1) in the first home game in three weeks. The Tigers had shown a lot of promise coming into the matchup with Kennett. The 2017-18 Tiger team is senior strong and ready to battle with any team they meet. Unfortunately, the Kennett team was also battle ready. The Indians showed they came to play by handing the Tigers a 42-22 loss under the Friday night lights.

The Tigers roared onto the field to a cheering crowd. Electing to receive, the Tigers picked up a short punt but were taken down quickly. Starting the ball near the 40 with hopes of making a goal with a few short plays, Tiger QB Charles Goliday passed to Terruis Rodgers for a short gain. Again, Goliday threw to Rodgers, this time a longer pass, to advance nicely downfield. Things were looking good when Goliday again tried to pass, but the Indians swooped in and intercepted the ball. The Tigers were not happy about this turn of events. With determination, the Tigers kept Kennett from making much gain on their possession, forcing a punt. Bryce Strawn received the punt and raced downfield. The battle was on. Each team made small gains and losses; traded punts and no one was scoring.

Then the second quarter came. The Tigers were finishing up their last possession carried over from the first quarter. They were looking at fourth and inches for a first down and sitting inside the 30-yard line but were unable to make the down. Tigers turned the ball over on downs. The first Indian play resulted in a loss, but they were undeterred. Their next play was a hand-off which was successful, breaking through the Tiger defenses. The Indians next pass was complete. The completed pass, plus a foul in favor of the Indians placed Kennett in a good position on the field. Kennett took advantage of the position and tried the series of plays again, this time successfully making a touchdown. The two-point conversion was good and Kennett had broken the 0-0 tie making the score 8-0 Kennett.

The kick-off was short, but the Tigers are unable to capitalize on the decent field position. After several plays that didn’t go very far, the Tigers punted the ball back to Kennett. The Indians were not able to make much headway as the Tigers were trying hard not to allow the Indians to gain much territory. The Indians punted to the Tigers. Unfortunately, the Tigers made an error and the ball was turned over on the first play of the series. But the Tigers managed to force an Indian fumble and retrieved the football. But the Tigers were not able to capitalize on the Indian fumble and again had to punt the ball. The quarter looked to be a repeat of the first quarter with a lot of back and forth action. With 26 seconds left in the half, the Indians managed to break away from the Tiger defenses and use a series of successful passes to make the second touchdown of the quarter. The extra point was good. Score 15-0 Kennett. But that was not the end of the half. The Tigers ran thee kick-off to near mid field. The Tigers tried for a long pass before the end of the half, but the Indians appeared to know what was coming and intercepted the ball, and ran it back for another Indian touch down. The extra point was good and still 12 seconds left in the half. The Tigers tried again, and again are intercepted, but thankfully the half ended with no further scoring. The two teams go to the locker room for the half. Score 22-0 Kennett.

The second half started with the back and forth momentum seen early in the first half of the game. Then, half way through the third quarter the Indians again found the end zone. The point after was good. The score was 29-0 and the Tigers were seething. On the next Indian possession, the Tigers took advantage of the Indians and intercepted on a long pass. The resulting pass by Goliday to Bryce Strawn was good. Strawn ran 53 yards for the Tigers first score of the game. Unfortunately, the extra point was no good. The score was now 29-6 Indians. The kickoff and the two teams exchanged the ball on downs. The Tigers should have had a touchdown at the end of the quarter, but a foul called the ball back.

The fourth quarter started with the Tigers continued possession of the ball. This time the Tigers were successful in making a touchdown. The two-point conversion was good. The score was 29-14 Indians. The ball was kicked off and the two teams exchanged downs again. The Tigers again started their march downfield. Goliday threw a pass to Bryce Strawn who got the first down. The next play, Goliday kept the ball, making a touchdown. Two-point conversion was good. The score was 29-22 Indians.

The Tigers were holding their ground. The ball again went back and forth between the two teams. The Indians made progress on their next possession. Each time short pass made their mark and slowly they made down after down. The Indian steady progress allowed them to gain a touchdown with only 1:42 left in the game. The extra point was good. Score 36-22 Indians. The Tigers took over the ball. The Tigers started their march down field but unfortunately, with less than a minute left in the game, Goliday was sacked, the ball stripped and the Indians raced to the end zone to end the game with another touchdown. The point after was good. The final score was 42-22 Kennett over Caruthersville.

Bryce Strawn had 8 receptions for 137 yards and 2 punt returns for 49 yards

GT Hays had 3 receptions for 44 yards and 1 punt return for 12 yards

Terrius Rodgers had 2 receptions for 32 yards and 3 kick-off returns for 70 yards

Chris Smith had 2 receptions for 32 yards

Tyson Young had 1 sack