Hibriten 32 Alexander Central 31 OT
Lenoir: Hibriten rallied to beat Alexander Central in an error-filled contest Thursday night.
The Cougars stormed out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter on touchdown runs by Sawyer Chapman-Mays from 7 yards and Wade Queen from 21. The game had the looks of a rout.
Hibriten would take advantage of a Cougar defender falling leading to a 66 yards scoring toss from QB Avin Crawford to Austin Ballard to get the Panther back in the contest.
AC would score again with 2:17 left in the first quarter when Cougar center Nate Dahlstrom recovered a Cougar fumble in the end zone for a score, it was 21-7.
Hibriten’s Dillan Earp would run the ball for a score from one yard with 7:05 left in the second period. The Panthers had to travel only 27 yards in 6 plays after a bad snap on an Alexander Central punt making the score 21-14 in favor of the Cougars.
Carson Davis would add a 23-yard field goal as time expired in the first half and AC led 24-14.
The Cougars felt like they had dominated the game ( they had) but a combination of dropped passes, fumbles and penalties had kept Hibriten in the game.
AC would play a rather uninspired, error plagued second half. That’s being kind ! It was nothing short of a melt-down.
After throwing for 105 yards in the first half (despite at least three drops) the Cougars attempted only one pass in the second half and it was incomplete.
Neither team put points on the board in the third quarter that followed a halftime that lasted a half-hour.
Hibriten took advantage of some blown Cougar coverage to rally and force over time with a touchdown from Dillan Earp from two yards and a 30-yard field goal by Ammon Blanton with 36 seconds remaining to force overtime.
The Blue and Gold scored in the extra period on a 2-yard run by Tanner Moore, the point after touchdown was converted by Carson Davis to give AC the lead at 31-24.
Hibriten stumbled to begin their overtime possession on penalties and a sack. On third and goal from the 17, D’Kodan Mitchell caught a 17-yard pass. He slipped out of a couple tackle attempts to find the end zone.
The Panthers elected to go for the two-point conversion. Gerard Felder found the end zone and Hibriten prevailed.
Alexander Central fumbled six times, losing three including some very crucial cough-ups in the second half.
The Cougars out gained Hibriten 358 to 259.
With the loss, Alexander Central falls to 4-5. The win improves the Panthers to 4-5.