It was a beautiful night for football at Stone Stadium on Friday as Wesson Cobras celebrated homecoming with the crowning of homecoming queen Shaylin Green and a win against the Richland Rangers, 47-14.

As the game began the Cobras wasted no time to attack by taking advantage of an onside kick attempt to start the game by the Rangers. 

Wesson started with great field position around midfield and scored after four consecutive run plays by sophomore Jason Edwards. The extra point was no good and the Cobras led 6-0. 

Richland wasted little time in answering by capitalizing on a couple Cobra penalties as they marched down the field and finally scored on fourth and goal on a quarterback keeper. The extra point was good making the score 7-6 in favor of the Rangers. 

On the next possession the Cobras offense answered right back with a 67-yard drive that ended with a 45-yard touchdown pass from Antrelle Sims to Shemar Dickerson, the Cobras two-point conversion attempt was unsuccessful, and the Cobras led 12-7.

The Cobra defense stood tall and stopped the Rangers on their next position on fourth down in Cobra territory, then the Cobra offense went back to work as they drove 75 yards down the field which ended with a 25-yard touchdown run by the elusive junior tailback Damien Smith. Sims added the two-point conversion and the Cobras increased their lead to 20-7. 

On their next possession the Rangers couldn’t get anything going against the tough Cobra defense as senior linebacker Chamar Martin made a huge stop on third-and-short to force a Ranger punt. 

After a touchback on the punt the Cobras started deep in their own territory, but they marched their way down the field with a combination ground attack from various running backs and scored on a 21-yard touchdown pass from Sims to Smith. Seth Cone added the extra point and the Cobras extended their lead to 27-7. 

The Rangers wasted no time to respond as they returned the kickoff into Cobra territory and scored a few plays later on a 25-yard touchdown pass.

The Rangers received the ball to start the second half hoping to keep the momentum they had at the end of the first half going, but the Cobras defense didn’t allow that and forced a punt. 

The Cobras started deep in their own territory at the 12-yard line and put together a great drive that consisted of a huge third and long pass from Sims to Dickerson to keep the drive alive, which would eventually lead to a 24-yard touchdown run by Sims. Cone’s extra point was good and the Cobras led 34-14 with 6:30 left to go in the third quarter. 

Touchdowns by Dickerson and Orlando Smith would cap the Cobra scoring late in the game.

Wesson head coach Jeremy Loy was pleased with the win, but saw some things his team could improve at.

“The only problem with us tonight was that we had too many penalties and we have got to clean that up,” said Loy. “Other than that I thought we played well on both sides of the ball, I am proud of my guys and hope we can continue playing well moving forward.”

Story by Rusty Newman