Hornets Drop District Opener

By Clint Cox

After three straight road games and losses to open the season, the Cottondale Hornets football squad finally got to play a home game last Friday. That the good news. The bad news is that it was against the FAMU Baby Rattlers and they took it to Cottondale in a 39-16 win over the Hornets.

FAMU, which had previously been shut out in their first two games, struck first with a touchdown run to go up 7-0. Cottondale fired right back as they took advantage of a Baby Rattler miscue on a punt return. Hornet Lonnie Johnson came up with the loose ball and gave Cottondale excellent field postion. Nick Jackson then put the Hornets on the scoreboard with a 16 yard run midway through the first quarter. Jackson followed with a 2 point run and the Hornets took an early 8-7 lead.

From that point however, the Baby Rattlers reeled off three unanswered scores to take a 27-8 halftime lead. Cottondale kept fighting tough and narrowed the gap in the third quarter. Jackson added his second TD of the night on a long run and Drew Bellamy added the point after run to make it a 27-16 game. FAMU salted the game away however in the fourth quarter after picking off a Hornet pass and scoring a touchdown with just over six minutes remaining in the game.

The contest was this district opener for both squads so with the loss Cottondale fell to 0-4 overall and 0-1 in district play. FAMU entered the game without a win as they had lost to North Florida Christian and Florida High in their first two outings. The Baby Rattlers improved to 1-2 overall and 1-0 in district action.