Mohawks battle Lions for victory

Mohawk sophomore running back Zach Redmon (32) follows the block of Luke Yount (22) and drags a few Manila Lions for positive yardage in Friday night's Piggott win. (Times photo/Tim Blair) [Click to enlarge]

Throughout the football season a young Piggott Mohawk squad has toiled against the cream of the crop in 3A-3, which includes some of the top teams in the region. The Tribe, a very young but talented team, has found it difficult to compete with the physicality and maturity of many of the other squads. If you were on hand for Friday night's game at Manila, you saw that young Mohawk team mature on the spot as they weathered a challenge from the senior-laden Lions and pulled out their first conference win of the year 40-35.

In the early going the Mohawks looked to blow-out the Lions, as they jumped out to a 14-0 first quarter lead on touchdowns of 23 and three yards from Alek Samples. But the Manila passing attack began to cause problems for the Piggott secondary, and they answered with three touchdowns in the third quarter including a trick play as time expired and the Lions took a lead into the locker room at the half.

During the second half the two teams swapped touchdowns, with the Mohawks getting two more from Samples, a 35 yard touchdown run by Luke Yount and yet another on a 15 yard run by Zac Trammell. But each time the Lions were able to answer the bell, and the Tribe trailed the home squad 32-35 with four minutes left in the ballgame.

That set-up the game winning drive, which began as Samples returned the Lion kickoff out to around mid-field. Behind the running of Samples, Coomer and Redmon they drove the ball down to the 31 and Coach Dave Hendrix called Yount's number. The junior fullback got the nod, and carried several Manila defenders the last few yards as he blasted into the endzone for his second touchdown of the game. Samples tacked-on the two point conversion and the Mohawks set the final score of 40-35.

But the final moments of the contest weren't without drama, as the potent passing attack of the Lions made a last ditch effort with just over a minute to play. That drive ended as Samples picked-off his second pass of the night with seconds to go in regulation to seal the win.

"We grew up a whole lot tonight, we sure grew up a lot," Hendrix said of his team's effort, "we start sometimes one senior, sometimes two or three..you know we're a young team and tonight it would have been real easy for us to get our heads down. They've got a lot of seniors they start, and we just hung in there. I can't say enough about my kids."

Hendrix also noted that adjustments to the Lion's offense helped the Mohawks to the win, and credited the defensive players and coaches, "Coach Harrell called a heck of a game tonight," he surmised. Among those making big defensive plays were Tanner Murray, who also had a two point conversion pass reception, Daniel Chandler, Yount, Redmon, Samples and Coomer.

On the game Yount led all rushers with 121 yards on just 11 carries, while Samples had 119 yards on 25 carries, Coomer finished with 22 yards on five carries and Trammell had 20 yards on three carries. Quarterback Jon Perkins was one of three for 14 yards, while the Lion quarterback was 18 of 39 for 251 yards passing, five touchdowns and two interceptions. Total offense on the game was 331 for the Lions and 317 for the Tribe.

With the win the Mohawks move to 2-7 overall and 1-5 in conference play with one game remaining. The Tribe will close out the regular season with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff this Thursday night at Parker Field as they host the winless Corning Bobcats. Last week the Bobcats fell to Rivercrest at home 0-35.