The Copper Basin Cougars started region 3-A play Friday, September 2, as they welcomed the Whitwell Tigers on a damp and misty night at Copper Basin High School.
Whitwell’s offense scored first and their defense won the turnover battle, and the Tigers headed back home with a 50-0 win.
The Cougars kicked off to start the game and Whitwell took over at their 40 yard line. The Tigers started a seven-play drive that ended with a 23 yard touchdown run to take a quick 7-0 lead with 9:37 left in the opening quarter. Copper Basin received the kickoff and eventually faced a fourth down and seven from their own 34 yard line. An incomplete pass gave the ball right back to the Tigers, but the Cougar defense stiffened, with help from a huge tackle for loss from senior Isaac Deal, and forced a Whitwell punt.
From their own ten yard line, sophomore quarterback Cade Dean found fellow senior Cadan Willliams for a gain of 12 yards, but on third down, the Tigers intercepted a pass at the Cougar and returned it to the Basin 16 yard line. On the first play after the turnover, Whitwell found the end zone again on a 16 yard run, adding to their lead. After the extra point was good, the Tigers had a 14-0 lead with 4:29 left in the first quarter.
On the next Cougar possession, the Tigers forced another turnover at the Copper Basin 28 yard line. On third and five from the Basin 23 yard line, the Tigers found paydirt one more time with 1:55 left to increase their lead to 21-0 after the extra point try was successful.
The Cougar’s next possession started at their own 12, and Dean carried the ball three times for yards and sophomore Hayden Deal one time for four more, but they had to punt the ball back to Whitwell after an incompletion on third down.
With less than a minute gone in the second quarter, Basin made a huge play on Whitwell’s first play of the drive, as senior Krus Soto recovered a fumble at the Tiger 38. On first down, Whitwell was guilty of pass interference, moving the ball to the Tiger 21. On the next play, the Whitwell defense sacked Dean for a nine yard loss. Moving the ball back towards midfield. On fourth down, the ball got past the Cougar punter and rolled down to the Basin 27 yard line, setting up Whitwell with great field position. Copper Basin came up with two huge plays on defense however, as senior Addison Hook and Isaac Deal combined to drop the Tiger QB for a four yard loss and then on fourth down, sophomore cornerback Nason Anderson batted the ball away, stopping Whitwell on the Cougar 15 yard line.
The Tigers forced another Cougar punt from freshman Tucker Rhodes, taking over at the Basin 48 yard line with 5:52 left before halftime. 43 seconds later, Whitwell scored on a 35 yard run, extending their lead to 28-0.
Whitwell added another touchdown two minutes later on a 17 yard run, but after an exchange of punts, the Cougars drove down to the Whitwell 27 yard line. The big play on the drive was a pass from Dean to senior AJ Fitchett for 22 yards with 15 seconds left in the half. Whitwell’s defense stiffened though, picking off a pass to end the drive and the half.
Copper Basin received the second half kickoff and the offense started to click. Dean found Fitchett for five yards and big junior tight end Landon Allen for ten more and Dean picked up a first down on a seven yard run. The Tiger defense, however, made another big play, picking off a pass and returned it to the Cougar 16 yard line. On first down, they found the end zone one more time to add to their lead with 7:44 to go in the third quarter, making the score 42-0.
On their next possession, Copper Basin started a nine play drive with Dean and Hayden Deal doing the work on the ground, but on fourth and long at the Tiger 42, an incomplete pass ended the drive with just a few seconds left in the third quarter.
With 6:16 left in the football game, Whitwell added to their lead, making the score 50-0. The Cougars had one more possession, but it ended with a turnover, and Whitwell ran out the clock to go back home with their first region win of the young season.
Head Coach Chad Grabowski was positive about his football team, as they never quit and played hard until the final seconds came off of the clock. “The boys played a much better second half of the football game and finished strong. We are looking forward to taking that effort into this week’s game with North Cobb Christian and getting our first win of the year.”
On the night, Dean completed eight passes for 59 yards and carried the ball 12 times for 16 yards. Hayden Deal finished the game with nine carries for 21 yards.
Fitchett led the receivers with two catches for 27 yards, while Williams caught two for 15 yards.Allen had one catch for ten yards, and Rhodes and sophomore Talon Smith each caught one ball for three yards.
On defense, Hayden Deal had a sack and forced a fumble that Whitwell recovered. Soto had a fumble recovery, while Williams and Anderson each had a pass break up. Hook continued his season of living in the opponent’s backfield, as he had and Isaac Deal had a tackle for loss.
Copper Basin travels to North Cobb Christian to take on the Eagles in Kennesaw, Georgia. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
Scoring Summary:
1 2 3 4 - F
Whitwell 21 14 7 8 - 50
Basin 0 0 0 0 - 0
(STORY BY JOHN SPARGO)