PHILIPPI – The Mt. Lions defense came to play once again as Tucker County led 10-0 at the half and held on in the second half to get the win Friday night against Philip-Barbour 10-7.
The Colts received the opening kick and punted the ball to the Mt. Lions after 3 plays. Tucker County was also unable to move the ball on their first offensive possession and punted the ball back to Philip-Barbour. On the next Colts drive their offense moved the ball down to the Tucker County 10 yard line where they were faced with a 4th down play. Philip-Barbour attempted a 27 yard field goal, but it was wide right and the score remained 0-0 with 3:32 left in the first quarter.
Austin Zirk then moved to the quarterback position for the Mt. Lions. The Tucker County drive started from their own 20 yard line and they moved the ball down to the Colts 37 yard line before a fumble was lost to turn the ball back over to Philip-Barbour. Two plays later Chase Alkire stepped in front of a Colts pass for an interception and he returned it 40 yards to the 15 yard line. Then on the third play of the drive and the first play of the second quarter Zirk ran into the end zone from 9 yards out to put Tucker County on the scoreboard with 11:55 left in the second. Michael Callaway added the extra point kick to make the score 7-0 Mt. Lions.
Philip-Barbour had to punt the ball away again after 3 plays and Tucker County started their next drive from their own 20 yard line. On the second play of the drive Zirk broke free for a 70 yard run that took the ball to the Colts 5 yard line. A holding call on a 2nd down play pushed the Mt. Lions back to the 16 yard line. The next two plays netted 3 yards and Tucker County had a 4th and goal from the 13 yard line. Callaway then came onto the field for Tucker County and kicked a 31 yard field goal with 7:55 left in the first half to up the Mt. Lions lead to 10-0. Neither team moved the ball on offense the rest of the first half and the score remained 10-0 Tucker County at the half.
The second half kick was received by the Mt. Lions and after one first down conversion Tucker County punted the ball to Philip-Barbour. The Colts then put together an 11 play 90 yard drive that was capped by a 2 yard touchdown run with 4:15 left in the third quarter. The extra point kick was good to bring the score to 10-7 Mt. Lions. Both teams struggled to sustain drives and pick up first downs in the third quarter to keep the score at 10-7 Tucker County.
Midway through fourth quarter Zirk would hit Alkire for a 57 yard pass play from his own 19 yard line on a 3rd down and 2. The Mt. Lions moved the ball down to the Colts 18 yard line, where they turned the ball over on downs after a failed fourth down play. Philip-Barbour then mounted a drive late in the fourth quarter that brought the ball down to the Tucker County 16 yard line with 18 seconds left in the game. The Colts had no timeouts and with the clock stopped they decided to run one more play. The snap to the quarterback was fumbled and they lost 10 yards on the play marking the ball at the 26 yard line. An injury on the field stopped the clock to give the Colts an opportunity to kick a field goal to tie the game with 6 seconds left. The 43 yard field goal attempt was blocked by Tucker County to secure the 10-7 win.
Austin Zirk finished the game with 88 yards rushing on 22 carries for the Mt. Lions and was 5 of 8 passing for 82 yards. Tucker County’s Seth Underwood added 5 carries for 42 yards rushing. The Mt. Lions outgained the Colts in total yards 228 to 205. Tucker County(4-1) will travel to Southern, MD this Friday. The game will be broadcast live online at TuckerCountySports.Com, pregame starts at 6:45pm, kickoff will be at 7pm. For more info go to TuckerCountySports.Com.
