Wildcats defense delivers win over Rams

Arkansas-SEMO Live Blog

Moments after Hixson's Dylan Bargerstock sacked Tyner quarterback Emmanuel Moss on a fourth-down pass with less than a minute to play Friday night, the junior linebacker and his entire team could finally take a deep breath.

In a wild District 6-AA clash at Tyner's Bob Evans Field that included nine turnovers between the two teams, Hixson rode its defense to a 14-7 victory.

"No matter what happened out there, everyone on defense just kept telling each other to keep going, finish through so we could win the game," said Bargerstock, who had eight tackles in the game. "Our offense played hard, but we had our struggles, and we knew it was up to us to keep Tyner from tying the game."

"It was a hard-fought game, and our defense sealed the victory for us," said Wildcats coach Dan Duff. "It's a victory and we are happy to get it, but we can't play like that all the time. We've got to do a better job of protecting the ball, because it can bite you."

In one two-minute stretch at the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth, the Wildcats (2-1, 1-0) and Rams fumbled it to each other on three consecutive series. The Rams (0-2, 0-1), with two of their four turnovers in that sequence, lost two strong opportunities to grab the momentum and the control of the game at that point.

"We had some good opportunities tonight, but we didn't capitalize on them and we made too many mistakes," said Tyner coach Wayne Turner. "You have to tip your cap to Hixson because they hung in there and battled tough. We put the ball on the ground and they put the ball on the ground. They took better advantage of their opportunities tonight, but I was pleased with the effort of our guys tonight. They played real hard, and it was much better than last week."

Tyner drove the ball to the 4-yard line on the Rams' first series, but Chris Nicholson fell on the first of three lost fumbles by the home team. The game remained scoreless until 6:14 in the second quarter when Marshall Cooper capped a 44-yard Hixson drive with a 34-yard touchdown run.

Tyner countered on the next series when Moss hit Martavius Dunningan with a 39-yard scoring strike to give the Rams a 7-6 advantage. However, Hixson took the lead for keeps 21 seconds later, at the 4:06 mark of the second quarter, on a 62-yard run by James Cole.

The closing moments of the first half were emblematic of the contest. Tyner had driven the ball to the Hixson 5-yard line with 23 seconds to play, but Justin Nichilson ended the Rams threat by intercepting a pass and then made his best attempt at a pick six. Despite a tremendous open-field block by Cooper, though, Nichilson was caught at the Tyner 3 by Kevin Cortes after a 92-yard return, and the half ended one play later.

"Cooper made a great block and I thought I was going to score, but I was running out of gas in those final 20 yards," Nichilson said. "Our defense hung tough all night and we got the win."

Contact Greg Thompson at sports@timesfreepress.com.

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