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By Fred Guarino

The Lowndes Signal

The Central Lions battled the New Brockton Gamecocks to a 20-20 tie in the third quarter, before running out of gas and falling 42-20 in a Class 2A Region 3 contest Friday night, Sept. 22 at homecoming.

Not counting a pre-season loss to Francis Marion on Aug. 25, 34-6, the Lions are now 2-2 overall and 2-1 in region play.

The Lions got off to a great start for homecoming before a huge crowd with a 20-yard touchdown run by Keegan Blackman and 2-point conversion by Ma’Lek Hill early in the first quarter to lead 8-0.

The Lions struck again when Blackman tossed a pass to Justin Taylor but tipped by defenders into the hands on Diontavious Holcombe on a 10-yard touchdown pass. The attempt for the 2-point conversion failed, but with 2:24 left in the first quarter, the Lions led 14-0.

The Gamecocks would not stay down, however, and the Gamecocks led the Lions 20-14at the half.

But the Lions weren’t finished either.  Hill gathered in a 14-yard touchdown pass to make it a 20-20 game with 7:36 left in the third quarter.

However, as the night wore on, the Gamecock running game proved too much for the Lion defense and the visitors cruised to a 42-20 victory.
The game was played before a tremendous crowd and featured a dazzling homecoming court.

Following the game, Central head football coach Quinn Hambrite said what his team needs is “resiliency.” He said, “When you are down six… It’s hard to get a group of guys who are used to being down to get up. They usually stay down and stay in that slump. And that’s the problem that we run into.”

He said football is an 11-man sport and if nine play and two don’t, “It’s a busted play every time.” He said, “We’ve just got to do better in the second half. We’ve got to learn to finish games because the game was far from over.”

Hambrite said, however, that Gordon played “an excellent game” and that Baldwin and Hill played well.  And while he said Keegan Blackman overthrew some passes, “Overall, he kept his composure in certain critical situations.”

But, Hambrite said, “I need my O line to get a little a bit better.” He added, “We’re a bigger team in almost every single game, but in our mind, we don’t know that.”

Central will travel to Monroe County High on Friday, Sept. 29 for a non-regional contest.
The Calhoun Tigers went on the road to W.S. Neal High School where they suffered their fourth loss of the season without scoring a point.

The Tigers fell 67-0 in this non-regional bout to go 0-4 on the season and 0-2 in regional play.

Calhoun head football coach Ervin Starr took the blame for the loss. He said, “I coached a poor game and did not have our guys prepared.” He said, “I have to do a better job.”

Calhoun will travel to Wilcox Central High on Friday, Sept. 29 for a non-regional contest.

The Lowndes Academy Rebels were idle this week, but will host Wilcox Academy for a non-regional homecoming contest on Friday, Sept. 29.