Copper Basin’s Cougars and McMinn Central’s Chargers battled for 48 minutes of football at Basin Friday night, ending regulation play tied at 14-14 and sending the game into overtime.
When the second overtime ended, 18 new points were on the scoreboard, but the Cougars had suffered a gut wrenching 26-20 defeat.
Much of the game was played at the line of scrimmage, with the Chargers’ defense giving Bryson Grabowski little time to throw the ball and the Cougars defense keeping a high powered running game in check most of the night.
Copper Basin won the coin toss and started the game receiving the opening kickoff. After the Cougars posted one first down, McMinn intercepted a pass to take over on their own 13 yard line.
On the Chargers first play, Jordan Ledford broke free for 77 yards and a touchdown. The extra point kick failed and the hosts found themselves quickly on the short end of a 6-0 score.
Copper Basin started at its own 43 after the kickoff.
On fourth and two, Grabowski broke loose for a first down at the Chargers’ 36. That was followed on third and five with a 31-yard touchdown pass from Grabowski to Chase Mickens, an all but impossible grab at the goal line between two McMinn defenders. A solid defensive hit broke up the two point conversion try, leaving the score tied at 6-6.
The Chargers recovered an onside kick to start at Copper Basin’s 48. Sebstian Baliles and Tyler Adams put a stop to McMinn’s drive with a big tackle for loss that forced a fourth down punt.
But the Cougars found themselves in a fourth and 24 situation. McMinn blocked the punt and the offense found itself 16 yards away from Basin’s goal line. With fourth and 22 from Basin’s 29, McMinn threw for the endzone, only to have the pass knocked away inside the five yard line by Basin’s Logan Burkett.
The quarter came to a close at 6-6 just after Grabowski hit Mickens for a first down at Basin’s 40.
The ball went over on downs after a rash of penalties against the Cougars.
Timothy Fair made a huge defensive play for the Cougars, setting up a fourth and 11 for the Chargers. Joe Boggs was defending when the Chargers pass try for the first down went incomplete.
The ball would change hands again before the half, but neither team scored, ending the first 24 minutes of play at 6-6.
McMinn took the kickoff and started driving down field from their own 39. Adams brought the drive to a fourth down with a big defensive play at Basin’s 32, four yards short of a first down. On the next play, Mickens intercepted a McMinn pass at the Cougars’ 20.
But Basin couldn’t move the ball and the teams spent the rest of the third quarter swapping punts.
As the Cougars got their first drive of the final quarter wound up, Grabowski hit Mickens on a pass that left Copper Basin only three yards shy of the goal line. Chance Bailey pushed the ball over for the touchdown, then added the two-point conversion to put the Cougars up 14-6 with 7:15 to go in the game.
On the kickoff, Larry Dye stopped the Charger ball carrier at McMinn’s 17. This helped set up a pass interception by Fair that he returned to the Chargers 25.
A Grabowski to Bailey pass gave the Cougars a first down at the 15.
On the next play, Mickens took the handoff and carried the ball to the four yard line. But on fourth and goal from the one, Grabowski was thrown for a loss and the ball went over on downs.
With only 3:09 to go in the game, McMinn was 92 yards away from the goal line, but 82 of those yards were soon covered on a single run and the two-point conversion tied the game at 14, which would send the contest into overtime when the clock ran out.
Basin went on offense first, starting 10 yards away from the endzone. Mickens took the ball to the four then Bailey took the next handoff across the goal line to put the Cougars up 20-14. The two-point conversion failed.
Then it was McMinn’s turn from the 10. Two plays later the game was tied at 20-20 and the Cougars stopped the two-point try. This set up a second overtime.
This time McMinn’s offense went first. Soon, the Chargers were up 26-20 and the Cougars lined up for a chance to win the game.
Mickens carried the ball to the five on the first play, then a Grabowski to Mickens pass moved the ball at the 3. Bailey couldn’t break through and was stopped at the three. On fourth down, McMinn’s defense rose to the occasion to to end the game.
The loss to the Chargers, a AA school just up the road from Etowah, leaves the Cougars with a 6-2 season record. Head coach Grabowski said, after the game,“I am extremely proud of how hard my boys played. All I have heard is that they are going to have a hard time playing against a team that is physical and runs right at them. I feel like the boys passed that quiz last night and we are prepared for more games like that this year going forward. We are going to use the off week to heal up and get back to work and prepare for the rest of the season. I love the mindset of this team and how they are not going to just settle to just be a good team at Copper Basin they want to be the best.”
After a week off, the Cougars will travel to Andrews before hosting the South Pittsburg Pirates in what promises to be the showdown for first place in the region.