By By Austin Bishop / EMG regional sports director
Oct. 16, 2004
West Lauderdale may not have won its football game on Friday night, but the Knights certainly made a statement.
The Knights played the No. 20-ranked and undefeated Forest Bearcats tit-for-tat to the final whistle before falling 27-16 in the Division 5-3A showdown.
While the loss eliminated any chance for the Knights earning even a share of the division championship, West Lauderdale is still in the hunt for the playoffs.
The Knights, now 5-3 overall and 2-2 in division play, hosts league foe Morton on Friday and then close the regular season at Carthage. "We just need to win those two games and go from there."
The first half was an offensive slugfest, as the Bearcats held a 20-16 lead at the intermission.
That it did. Keith Brown passed for 243 yards in the first half, but managed only six in the second half. West Lauderdale held Forest to only one first down in the second half, with that coming on a penalty.
The turning point of the game took place late in the first half, with West Lauderdale leading 16-13.
Michael Pogue picked off a long pass for WL at the Knights' 20-yard line and returned it all the way back to the Forest 1-yard line where WL had a first-and-goal.
After a first down play went for a 1-yard loss it appeared that West quarterback Austin Davis had scored on a quarterback sneak. But the Knights were called for illegal procedure, moving the ball back to the seven. Another penalty and a quarterback sack eventually forced the Knights into a 38-yard field goal attempt on fourth and goal at the 21. The kick came up short.
On the next play from scrimmage Brown hit Lee McLendon with a 80-yard scoring pass and Forest had the lead for good with 2:15 left in the half.
Instead of going up by two scores, the Knights trailed by four at the half, 20-16.
But the WL defense dominated the Forest offense in the second half, forcing the 8-0 Bearcats to go three-and-out on three consecutive series.
The early lead went to West Lauderdale in this contest. After Justin Garza recovered a fumble for the Knights, Davis scored two plays later on a 46-yard run. Cory Williams hit Josh Hannible with a pass on a trick play for the two-point conversion to put WL up 8-0 with 9:21 left in the first quarter.
Forest recovered the onside kick and nine plays later Brad Ellis scored on a 4-yard run with 7:10 left in the quarter. The two-point conversion failed.
The Bearcats took their first lead of the game with 10:38 left in the first half when Brown hit Michael Townsend with a 3-yard scoring pass. The kick by Grey LaPrade made it 13-8 in favor of Forest.
Hannible returned the kickoff 46 yards for WL to put the Knights in business at the FHS 44-yard line. Eight plays later Davis scored on a 1-yard run. The two-point conversion run by Hannible put the Knights up 16-13 with 6:59 left in the first half.
Davis finished the night with 53 rushing yards on 17 carries for West Lauderdale, while Caleb Dulaney had 41 yards on 10 attempts and Scott Truesdale had eight carries for 31 yards.