By James Beach
Correspondent
On the next-to-last play of Brainerd’s 34-8 loss at home to Austin-East Friday night, Panthers defensive back Monte Cross broke through and dropped a Roadrunners tailback for an 8-yard loss.
That might be definitive of the things ahead for the Panthers. Despite an ugly, ugly loss to a better football team, they competed until the bitter end.
“Eventually these kids are going to grow up,” said Brainerd first-year coach Stanley Jackson. “We have no experience out there at all, but I’m certainly not discouraged with the effort.”
Brainerd laid four fumbles on the ground, had a dozen penalties, dropped the snaps on three punt attempts and lost yardage on 18 offensive plays but managed to hold Austin-East out of the end zone five times in the second half despite giving the Knoxville team field position inside the 30 on each occasion.
“The best thing about tonight is we came two hours on a bus and are leaving with a win,” A-E coach Robert Gillard said. “I thought Brainerd had a lot of fight in them tonight.”
The Roadrunners raced to a 20-0 halftime lead as Cordy Cox reeled off two of his three touchdown runs, covering 3 yards and 1. Trevell Boatwright added a 33-yard run in the half, and the ‘Runners held Brainerd to 11 yards rushing.
A-E got 113 of its 176 rushing yards in that first half. Cox made it 26-zip with his 20-yard run in the third period, and Josh Sawyer rumbled 79 yards with a Brainerd fumble to close out the visitors’ scoring.
Brainerd got on the board late on Joseph Derrick’s 4-yard burst. He was one of four Panthers to take snaps at quarterback due to injuries that have plagued them at the position.
Corey Wiley had 91 yards on 10 carries.
Cox led A-E with 120 yards on 17 runs, and Tremond Robinson had three catches for 59 yards. Big defensive end Mark Nolan recovered a fumble and had 13 tackles.
Contact James Beach at sports@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6273.