MONTICELLO — The South Pike Eagles defeated the Lawrence CountyHigh Cougars 42-14 in Region 6-4A action Friday night at LCHS. Thetwo teams battled to a spirited 14-14 halftime tie, but South Pikeexploded for 3 non-offensive touchdowns in the third quarter,blowing the game open.

With the win, Coach Randall Huffman’s Eagles, ranked among thetop 10 teams in Mississippi, improved to 5-0 on the season, and 1-0in Region 6-4A. Lawrence County, coached by Mike Davis, fell to 3-2overall, and 1-1 in the division.

“The first half went as well as we could have hoped for,” Davissaid. “The third quarter was a disaster. South Pike made a big playto grab the momentum, and we never recovered.”

After an entertaining first half which had all sorts of action,South Pike took total control in the third quarter, starting withthe second half kickoff. In a span of 7 minutes, the Eaglesreturned a fumbled kickoff return for a touchdown, blocked a puntfor a touchdown, and returned a pass interception for atouchdown.

From the halftime tie, South Pike earned a 35-14 lead withoutrunning a single offensive play.

“Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong in that thirdquarter,” Davis said. “Give South Pike credit. They made it happen.They are a high-octane, high-speed, well-coached team. It’s noaccident they’re 5-0.”

The game was a strange one. The team that lost by 28 pointsactually outgained the winning team in total offense (247-227) andpossessed the football an incredible 33 minutes, 40 seconds, of the48-minute game. South Pike frequently scored without its offenseever touching the field.

South Pike received the opening kickoff and took just 4 plays togo the length of the field. Kelsey Island threw a swing pass totailback Chris Abron who sped past the Lawrence County secondaryfor 55 yards and a touchdown. Darrel Putman’s kick made it a 7-0game.

Lawrence County came right back with an impressive drive of itsown. The Cougars went 82 yards in 8 plays. Quarterback TavalasPeyton sneaked across from the 1-yard line. Travis Stalans kickedthe PAT to knot the game at 7-7.

Lawrence County’s celebration didn’t last long, as South Pike’sSam Reed took the ensuing kickoff and raced 86 yards for atouchdown. The Eagles led 14-7.

Undaunted, the Cougars took the football right back down thefield again, albeit a great deal slower. With a 66-yard, 14-play,7-minute drive, LCHS tied the game. On the first play of the secondquarter, Peyton again scored on a 1-yard sneak. The big play was a21-yard screen pass to J.P. Lewis, which converted a fourth-and-11situation.

The half had a rousing end. With less than a minute to play,South Pike’s Island hit Lewis Osbey with a 45-yard pass, down tothe Cougar 4-yard line. One play later, however, Island was tackledinbounds, along the 4. The Eagles had no timeouts left, and theclock ticked off as South Pike desperately tried to spike thefootball. Lawrence County escaped with a 14-14 tie. That was thelast highlight the homestanding Cougars would have.

On the second half kickoff, Cougar returnman Danny Powell washit and fumbled at his own 16-yard line. South Pike’s Bryan Millerscooped up the fumble and raced into the end zone. South Pike led20-14, and that was just the start of Lawrence County’sthird-quarter misery.

The Cougars earned a first down on their next possession, butwere then forced into a punting situation at their own 46-yardline. The Eagles broke through to block Ben Wall’s punt, and Milleragain scooped up the ball, this time racing 32 yards for atouchdown. It was 28-14 and the rout was on.

“You can’t imagine how much we talk about battling throughadversity, hanging tough in tough times, stopping the bleeding andso forth,” said LCHS assistant Craig Davis. “Frankly, I thought wefailed in that regard tonight. When those two misfortunes occurred,their team, their band and their grandstand were all in totaluproar.

“I thought we got a little bit rattled,” he continued, “butwe’ll learn from that. It wasn’t all bad tonight. We did some goodthings against a very, very good team.”

On the Cougars’ next possession, after 2 South Pike penaltiesnetted Lawrence County 2 first downs, the Eagles’ Darrel Putmanintercepted a Peyton pass and raced it 51 yards for a touchdown.That made it 35-14. South Pike tacked on 1 final score early in thefourth quarter, when Detroit Rogers motored his way in on a 2-yardrun.

Along with Putman’s and Miller’s special teams and defensiveheroics, junior linebacker DeWayne Pittman was a standoutperformer. Pittman led an Eagle defense that largely stymiedLawrence County in the second half.