Late miscues hurt Scotties

By JOHN VERSER
Glasgow Daily Times

October 04, 2008 01:01 pm

— Glasgow’s surprise spread offense gave the team a spark on Friday night.
But second half turnovers doomed the Scotties in a 32-20 loss to Russellville at Hank Royse Stadium.
Glasgow led 12-10 late in the third quarter before turnovers turned the game around. Russellville took over at the Scotties’ 36 after a Glasgow fumble and needed just three plays and a two point conversion for an 18-12 lead.
The Panthers (5-1) picked off Tyler Lindsey’s pass on the second play of the Scotties’ next drive and returned it for a 42-yard touchdown and a 25-12 lead with 34.5 seconds left in the third quarter.
Glasgow (0-6) controlled almost every offensive statistic except the scoreboard with its new offense. The Scotties outgained the Panthers 337-287, had 25 more offensive snaps than their opponent, had two more first downs and had an almost nine minute advantage in time of possession.
But the pair of third quarter turnovers seemed to be the dagger in the Scotties’ heart.
“It seems like every time we get something going good we shoot ourselves in the foot,” Glasgow coach Billy Lindsey said.
Things seemed to go Glasgow’s way from the get-go, but the homestanding team couldn’t take advantage early. After the Scotties’ first possession of the game, a 3-and-out, they had to punt. But the Panthers touched the punt and Glasgow took over at the Russellville 14-yard line.
Glasgow gained three yards on its first two plays, moving to the 11, before LaJuan Smith dropped Tyler Lindsey’s third down pass. Lindsey found Tavion Parrish for a completion on fourth down which was short of the first down.
The Scotties forced a fumble on the Panthers’ next possession at the Glasgow 25. They drove 50 yards before turning the ball over on downs at the Russellville 25.
Glasgow held Russellville and then used a 10-play scoring drive to break a scoreless tie. Parrish ended the drive on a 6-yard touchdown run for a 6-0 lead with 8:13 left in the half. Michael Bradley’s two point conversion attempt was stopped.
The Panthers’ big play ability almost put the team in the end zone with less than a minute left in the half. D.J. Quarles threw a 32-yard pass to Zach Smith, who was tackled at the Glasgow 1-yard line.
Russellville fumbled on first and goal at the one yard line and lost five yards. The Panthers gained four yards back on Quarles’ run, which set up third and goal at the two. But Cody Edwards and a couple of other Scottie defender snuffed Davonta Bryant on the sweep play for a loss of two yards. Smith then kicked a 22-yard field goal with 15.5 seconds left in the half to cut Glasgow’s lead to 6-3.
Russellville scored on its first possession of the second half to take the lead. Bryant scored on an 8-yard run for a 10-6 advantage with 7:30 left in the third.
But the Scotties came right back to retake the lead. Glasgow ran five plays before Parrish’s crucial 12-yard run on third and 10 from the Russellville 29 kept the drive alive. That play was followed by a 17-yard touchdown pass from Lindsey to Hunter Bowles. Parrish was stopped on the two point conversion and Glasgow led 12-10 with 4:10 left in the third quarter.
The Scotties held the Panthers to three plays and got the ball back with 3:04 left in the third quarter. Glasgow gained nine yards on two rushing plays to set up a third and one.
That’s when the trouble started. The Scotties fumbled on the play and Russellville took over at the Glasgow 36.
The Panthers needed just three plays to score, going in on a 14-yard touchdown pass. They hit the two point play and led 18-12.
Lindsey threw an interception on the Scotties’ second play after getting the ball back, which Donavon Harris returned for a 42-yard touchdown and a 25-12 lead. Lindsey was under heavy pressure on the play and threw it right to Harris while he was chased.
Russellville added a fourth quarter score on a 5-yard run from Craig Matthews with 3:16 left in the game.
Glasgow’s final score came on a 1-yard run from Lindsey with just 35 seconds left.
Despite the loss, Glasgow’s coach was somewhat pleased with his team’s adjustment to the new offense.
“We used some of our same plays, not the the spread by Tony Franklin, but a lot of the same stuff that they do using the way we call things,” Lindsey said. “We were able to get some things and give us some running lanes in there a little bit. And they had a hard time stopping us at times.
“We sometimes self-destruct. And that’s the thing we have problems with. It’s not because they’re not trying.”
But the game turned on turnovers. Russellville capitalized on Glasgow’s second half mistakes, while the Scotties couldn’t take advantage of the Panthers’ first half miscues.
“We should’ve scored when we had it down there, but we didn’t,” Lindsey said. “And we shouldn’t have made the turnovers that we did. Those things happen when you’re 0-6. If we were winning, we probably wouldn’t make those mistakes.”
Glasgow is off this week. The Scotties are back in action Oct. 17 when they host district foe Monroe County at 7 p.m.

Score by quarter
Russellville 0 3 22 7 - 32
Glasgow 0 6 6 8 - 20

Rushing
Blake Perkins 7-54, Tavion Parrish 14-53 (TD), Michael Bradley 9-25, Tyler Lindsey 5-(-15), Jaleen Sublett 2-(-9), Trey Alexander 1-(12).

Passing
Tyler Lindsey 17/29, 192 yds., TD, INT
Trey Alexander 3/3, 27 yds.
Stacy Sullivan 1/1, 12 yds.

Receiving
Stacy Sullivan 7-67, Michael Bradley 5-71, Hunter Bowles 3-43 (TD), LaJuan Smith 3-27, Tavion Parrish 2-11, Jaleen Sublett 1-12.

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