Tigers and Pirates Fall

10/30/08
By Clint Cox

Two of the county’s football squads fell last Friday night. The Graceville Tigers played host to the Rattlers of FAMU High in a big district matchup. The Rattlers however were too much for the Tigers and came away with a 22-12 win. The win improved the Rattlers to 3-0 in district play while Graceville fell to 1-1 in district action. FAMU jumped out to an early lead but the Tigers fought back with a 6 yard scoring run by Antrell Wright to tie the game at 6-6. FAMU came back to take a 14-6 lead but again the Tigers kept battling. Leron Hoover bulled his way into the end zone from 1 yard out to make it a 14-12 game late in the first quarter. That scoring plunge was set up by a 54 yard run from quarterback Justin Miles. The 14-12 scored held until midway through the third quarter when FAMU tacked on another score to make it a 20-12 lead. Hoover rushed for 102 yards on the night. The Tigers will next face district opponent Aucilla Christian on the road Friday night in Monticello.
The Sneads Pirates endured another hard to swallow loss as they fell 27-13 to the Gators in Wewahitchka. The Gators jumped out to an early lead after returning the opening kickoff deep into Pirate territory. After scoring to take a 6-0 lead the Gators later expanded their lead to 14-0. Pirate Mark Lawson gave Sneads a glimmer of hope with a 70 yard touchdown run to make it a 14-6 game. But the Gators tacked on another first half score to lead 21-6 at the half. Both teams each added a score in the second half, with the Pirate TD coming on a 65 yard fumble recovery return for a score by Josh Rogers. Lawson finished the night with 128 yards on 18 carries. Billy Knight and Sherrick led the Pirate defense with 8 tackles each. With the loss Sneads fell to 2-5 on the season and this week they will play host to district foe Liberty County at 7 pm this Friday night at Citizen’s Field. .