It was the best of times for Lake County. It was the worst of times for Crockett County. Lake County improves to 2 – 0 while Crockett County falls to 0 – 2. Despite a 70-man roster, the Cavaliers fell to the Falcons on Friday night after Lake County overcame a 14-point deficit to win the game with 1:11 remaining in the fourth quarter.
For the Falcons’ Tanner Snyder, the night was storybook. Snyder ended the game 8 for 16 with 112 yards passing and 114 yards rushing on 14 attempts. He also had 4 touchdowns in a fourth quarter come from behind victory over the 4A Cavaliers.
Head Coach Josh Puckett appreciates Snyder’s leadership on the field. “Tanner did a good job leading us. He ran the offense efficiently and played very hard on defense.”
The Falcons and Cavaliers battled back and forth in the first quarter. After two turn overs on downs, Crockett County got on the board with a pass to Kintarious Siddell with 9:09 in the second quarter. The extra point by Armando Mena made the score 7 – 0 Crockett County.
Despite moving the ball, Lake County turned the ball over on an incomplete pass. Josh Owens for Crockett County ran the ball in for a touchdown. Mena added the extra point. Crockett County led the game 14 – 0 with 4:59 remaining in the second quarter.
On the next drive, Snyder and the Falcon offense seemed determined to move the ball down the field. With passes from Snyder to Justin Morgan, then runs by Snyder and Larry Tubbs, Lake County got to the goal line with 12 seconds remaining. Snyder took the snap and being driven in a huge pile of Falcon players, Snyder crossed the goal line. The two-point conversion failed leaving Lake County at 14 – 6 at the half.
After halftime, Lake County took the kickoff, but a personal foul and a tough Cavalier defense squandered the effort. The Falcons turned the ball over on downs. Two minutes and 11 seconds later, Crockett’s Owens scored on a 16-yard run. Mena added the extra point. The Cavaliers led 21 – 12.
The Falcons’ next drive would prove to be a game changer. With 2:02 in the third quarter, a 10-play drive, and good moves by Snyder, Tubbs, Morgan, and Cayden Puckett, the Falcons scored again. Snyder pushed in the ball on a 10-yard run to change the score to 21 – 12.
Crockett ended the third quarter and started the fourth quarter poised to run the clock as much as possible. They were 3-for-5 with 22 yards passing. They rushed 36 times for 272 yards with Owens owning most of those yards. Around the 10:25 mark, Campbell Puckett came from his linebacker position over the top to tackle and strip the ball from Miguel Guerra and then above all else recovered the ball.
Lake County pushed the ball down the field on the play of Snyder and Cayden Puckett’s pass reception for 34 yards. Snyder ran the ball the rest of the field for 41 yards for the touchdown. The score after the failed two-point conversion shrank to three points, 21 – 18.
Crockett ran over 4 minutes off the clock during the next drive, but the Falcon defense spun their offense out of control. Pratt threw a long pass out of bounds to end the drive and turn the ball back over to the Lake County offense.
Lake County moved down the field, but a fumble turned the ball back over to the Cavaliers with 2:33 remaining.
Crockett started their drive on the 12-yard line trying to run the clock or the length of the field. Neither of those happened. Keyshon Gross came up big with a massive caused fumble. John Wilson would jump on the ball for the Falcons.
After the turnover, Snyder and the offense drove the ball for their go-ahead touchdown by Tanner Snyder. Campbell Puckett tossed the ball to Larry Tubbs for the two-point conversion. The Falcons led at this point for the first time in the game 26 to 21.
With 1:11 remaining, the Cavaliers had to start passing because they were behind. John Wilson again came up with a massive one-hand interception at the 48-yard line. A horse collar penalty took the ball 15 yards to the 42-yard line where the Falcons ran out the clock despite the Cavaliers time outs.
Offensive leaders for the Falcons were Snyder, Tubbs, Morgan, and Puckett. Cayden Puckett had three receptions for 55 yards and had three rushes for 14 yards. Larry Tubbs rushed 22 times for 98 yards. Justin Morgan had four receptions for 44 yards.
Defensive leaders for Lake County were abundant. Izaiah Matheny had 10 tackles and 1 assist. Campbell Puckett had two tackles, two assists, one fumble caused, and one fumble recovery. John Wilson had two tackles, one assist, one interception, and one fumble recovery. Jamarius Williams had four tackles and four assists. Keyshon Gross had four tackles and two assists with a caused fumble. Thirteen other plays had defensive stats.
Coach Puckett responded to questions about the defense by saying, “We expect to play well on defense. We had some mental errors in the first half that setup both scores (for Crockett County). We did a good job causing turnovers in the second half that helped us get back in the game. We are a defensive led team. We expect to play great defense.”
Lake County plays at the Dresden Lions next Friday night. Coach Puckett said, “They have a good QB that came in and ran the show after the (starting) quarterback went down. He led them to a win. The game plan won’t change at all.” The Falcons will take on the lions at 7 p.m.
