‌The Collins Tigers edged the Lawrence County Cougars 21-19 in a dandy non-division football game Friday night in Collins.

Lawrence County scored on a 3-yard run by Haden Mullins with 6:19 left in the game, but the Cougars’ attempt to tie the game with a two-point conversion was foiled by a botched center-quarterback exchange.

Lawrence County grabbed an immediate 7-0 lead when sophomore halfback Tae Cole broke loose for a 65-yard TD on the game’s very first play. Cooper led Lawrence County with 173 rushing yards on 20 carries.

Collins bounced back to take the lead on a rushing touchdown by Antonio Spencer and Emmanuel Lockhart. A 38-yard scoring run by Lawrence County running back Perez Tyler cut the Collins lead to 14-13 at halftime. The extra point attempt by Jose Gonzales was blocked.

Both teams had their chances in a scoreless third quarter but neither pushed ahead. On the first play of the fourth quarter Collins quarterback Mar’Ques McLaurin tossed a five yard scoring pass to Akeem McNair to make it a 21-13 game, in Collins’ favor.

McLaurin, a junior standout, completed 15-for-25 passes for 226 yards. His brother, Markel McClaurin, caught 11 passes for 131 yards.

A blocked punt set up Mullin’s late score for Lawrence County. After the Cougars kicked off to Collins late in the game, the Tigers were able to pick up four first downs to run out the clock.

“Our guys fought hard,” said Cougar head coach Jesse Anderson. “You can’t make as many mistakes as we did against a good team. Those mistakes are on me and we’ll get them cleaned up before we start region play next week.”

Story by Craig Davis