BAKER, WV – The Mt. Lions traveled to Baker, WV on Friday Oct 11th and were held scoreless in the contest and the #5 Cougars stayed undefeated with the 8-0 victory.
Tucker County received the opening kick and went 3 plays and punted the ball back to East Hardy at their own 40 yard line. The Cougars could not maintain their drive and punted the ball back to the Mt. Lions on their first possession. Tucker County took over on their own 8 yard line and disaster struck on the 2nd play as Quarterback Austin Zirk was sacked in the end zone to give East Hardy a safety and a 2-0 lead with 7:04 left in the first quarter.
East Hardy got the ball after the safety and did not move the ball and the Mt. Lions took over after the punt on their own 20 yard line. Tucker County marched the ball down to the Cougars 1 yard line before they were stopped short of the first down on a fourth down play. East Hardy would then get the ball back at their own 1 yard line. The Cougars moved the ball to the 23, but the drive would stall at the East Hardy 23 yard line and Tucker County’s offense got the ball at the Cougars 48 after the punt. Tucker County then picked up one first down, but a holding penalty on 3rd down stopped the drive and the Mt. Lions were forced to punt it away.
Another punt by East Hardy would give the ball back to Tucker County. Zirk would lose a fumble on the next play turning the ball over to the Cougars. Zach Armstrong then got an interception on East Hardy’s next play, giving the Mt. Lions the ball back. The next play the turnover bug would strike Tucker County again as Chase Alkire at Quarterback fumbled on the first play and East Hardy recovered deep in Mt. Lions territory. The Cougars offense would then get into the end zone 2 plays later on a 22 yard run to bring the score to 8-0 after a failed 2 point conversion with 5:56 in the second quarter.
The Mt. Lions then would put the ball onto the grass again for their 3rd turnover of the first half. East Hardy was unable to move the ball on that possession and Tucker County received the ball at the Mt. Lions 25. Tucker County drove the ball into Cougars territory, but the drive was stopped at the East Hardy 46 after a failed 4th down play in the closing seconds of the first half. East Hardy took a knee to run out the second quarter clock and the score showed the Cougars with the 8-0 lead at the half.
The third quarter was highlighted by great defense by both teams. The Mt. Lions Dusty Conrad grabbed an interception on East Hardy’s second drive of the third quarter and Tucker County then took the ball down to the Cougars 35 yard line before the drive stalled.
The fourth quarter also proved to be a great defensive showing as the Mt. Lions bowed their backs and stopped the Cougars on a 4th down play at the Tucker County 10. Both teams exchanged punts on their next possessions and Tucker County got the ball back at the East Hardy 42 yard line with 5:53 left in the game. The Mt. Lions would then drive the ball down to the 23 yard line before the Cougars defense came up big again to end the Tucker County drive after another failed fourth down play with 2:13 left. East Hardy then ran 3 plays and was forced into a 4th down and 2 play at their 31 yard line with 1:09 left in the game. After a timeout the Cougars decided to go for it instead of punting and the East Hardy offense moved the line just enough to pick up the first down. The Cougars then ran out the clock to get the win 8-0.
Austin Zirk led Tucker County with 33 carries for 116 yards on the ground and Zirk also contributed 92 yards passing on 5 completions off 9 attempts. The Mt. Lions(4-3) are idle this week and will return home on Friday Oct 25th to face Pendleton County. For more info go to
TuckerCountySports.Com.
