TIFTON —
After falling behind by three touchdowns, the comeback efforts of the Tiftarea Academy Panthers fell just short Friday night and they lost to the Pinewood Christian Patriots, 21-14, in Bellville.
The Patriots scored on their first drive of the game when Ethan Coppella broke loose from 51 yards out with 9:41 left in the first quarter. The extra point was no good, and Panthers defense used a couple key turnovers to hold the score at 6-0 until right before halftime.
After a Panther fumble gave Pinewood the ball in Tiftarea territory, Nathan Carswell picked off the first down pass to keep the Patriots from capitalizing.
The next time Pinewood threatened, Carswell again got the ball back for the Panthers as he recovered a fumble on the Tiftarea 1-yard line. The Patriots, however, were able to reach the endzone again before the half as D.J. Johnson hit Joshua Barnard on a 45-yard pass with 14 seconds left in the second quarter. Coppella ran in the two point conversion to make the halftime score 14-0.
Tiftarea was forced to punt on the opening drive of the second half, but Talyor Folsom's punt pinned Pinewood back on their own six yard line. Pinewood, however, drove the length of the field and, on a 3rd down and 18 from the 25-yard line, Johnson found Barnard again for the score. The extra point made the score 21-0 with 3:27 left in the third quarter.
After exchanging punts, Ethan Mims got Tiftarea on the scoreboard with a 70-yard run with 11:19 left in the game. After Logan Brown made the extra point to bring the score to 21-7, he recovered his own onside kick to give the Panthers back the ball.
Rob Flick hit Sam Varnadoe with a 26-yard pass to set the Panthers up on the Pinewood 14 yard line, but a fumble on the 4 yard line kept Tiftarea from capitalizing.
After the defense forced Pinewood to turn it over on downs, Flick was able to complete a 66-yard touchdown pass to Joseph Spinks. Brown's extra point cut the lead to 21-14 with 51 seconds left in the game, but Tiftarea was unable to convert on the onside kick a second time and the Patriots were able to run out the clock.
Tiftarea head coach Ryan Branch said, "We came out a little flat and got off to a slow start, but our defense was able to keep us in the game. Our guys never stopped fighting and we worked our way back into the game and gave ourselves a shot to win. I am proud of the heart and determination out guys showed tonight in a tough game on the road."
Tiftarea will return home next week to take on Bulloch Academy Friday at 7:30 p.m.
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Tiftarea Academy Panthers
October 13, 2012
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