Wesson knocks off St. Al 23-7
Published 5:00 am Tuesday, September 5, 2000
WESSON – For a while Friday night, it looked like the WessonCobras were going to post a shutout win over the St. AloysiusFlashes.
WESSON – For a while Friday night, it looked like the WessonCobras were going to post a shutout win over the St. AloysiusFlashes. However, the Flashes weren’t going down without afight.
St. Aloysius produced one touchdown and 108 yards offense in thefinal frame for their only score as Wesson recorded a 23-7 win inStone Stadium.
“We didn’t play really well in the second half,” said Wessonhead coach Ronald Greer following the win. “We have to cut out ourmistakes. I told them, ‘Don’t take the wins for granted.'”
St. Al had 166 yards rushing on the night, with 58 yards in thefirst three quarters. Wesson rushed 31 times for 134 yards.
St. Aloysius head coach Jim Taylor was unavailable forcomment.
Wesson (1-1) produced two touchdowns in the first quarter for a14-0 lead over St. Aloysius.
The first touchdown came on the Cobras’ first possession of thefirst quarter. Junior quarterback Jason Shannon connected on a14-yard pass-play to Tom Burgess for a 7-0 lead following the PATby freshman Nick Gunter. Gunter hit 2-of-3 extra points.
The second Cobra TD came midway in the first quarter on a30-yard run by junior Marcus Corley for the six points and the 14-0lead.
Wesson tacked on a field goal in the second quarter to go up17-0 at the half. Freshman Nick Gunter nailed the 25-yard fieldgoal.
In the third frame, the Cobras scored their final points of thenight on an 80-yard burst down the middle of the field by Shannonfor the 23-0 lead over St. Aloysius.
St. Al came alive and took advantage of Wesson to score on afive-yard run by runningback Walker Hongst. The PAT was good andthe Saints cut the Cobras’ lead to 23-7.
“St. Al played pretty good,” Greer added. “They got after ourtails.”
Junior runningback Russell Robinson sparked the Wesson runninggame with 10 carries for 39 yards. Emanuel Sinclair carried sixtimes for 34 yards. Also rushing for 34 yards was Corley on twocarries.
Shannon completed 3 of 10 pass for 65 yards including one passinterception. Burgess caught three passes for 46 yards. Josh Ashleyhad one catch for 22 yards.
Defensively, senior defensive lineman Chris Thorntoncollected 13 tackles and recovered one fumble. Linebacker JoshAshley also had 13 tackles. Making 11 stops and sacking thequarterback was Robinson. Corley intercepted a pass and returned it23 yards. Also recovering a fumble was WhitneyScoggin.
“I was proud of them,” Greer said. “We have a long wayto go before becoming a good football team.”
Wesson visits North Pike (1-0) Friday night. North Pikeopened its season last Friday with a come-from-behind 24-22 winover Bogue Chitto. Kickoff is set for 5:30. @Bbstandings:STATISTICSSA W First Downs 11 5 Passing Yards 108 65 Rushes Yards 29-16631-134 Total Yards 274 202 Passes 6-11-1 3-16-1 Fumbles-Lost 2-22-2 Punts-Average 7-29.5 4-36.5 Penalties-Yards 4-50 11-100 St.Aloysius 0 0 0 8 – 8 Wesson 14 3 6 0 -23 FIRST QUARTER W – 14 passfrom Shannon to Burgess (Gunter kick) W – Corley 30 run (Gunterkick) SECOND QUARTER W – Gunter 25 field goal THIRD QUARTER W -Shannon 80 run (pass failed) FOURTH QUARTER SA – Hongst 5 run (kickgood) INDIVIDUAL LEADERS RUSHING: St. Al, NA. W, Russell Robinson10-39, Marcus Corley 2-34, Sinclair 6-34. PASSING; ST. Aloy, Heaon6-11-1. W, Shannon 3-16-1. RECEIVING: ST. Al, NA. W, Burgess, 2-29,Shannon 1-22.