Panthers step up, beat county rivals on their turf

11/1/2008 6:28:46 AM
Daily Journal

BY CHRIS RUSHING
Special to the Journal

ABERDEEN - Senior Evan Lackey and junior William Ezell ignored the records when Amory faced cross-county rival Aberdeen on Friday night.

The pair paced the Panthers’ offense and defense as the visitors proved that you can truly toss out the records in the 71st meeting between the Division 2-3A foes. For the 41st time in the storied A-Game, the Amory squad left victorious – this one by a 22-21 final.

“When you beat your county rival, you shut them out in the second half, you count on players who you didn’t think you’d have to count on … this feels great,” Amory skipper Pat Byrd said. “We dug ourselves a hole in the first half, and I told the kids we were going to fill that hole up with dirt and dig ourselves out. That’s what we did tonight.”

Lackey rushed nine times for 84 yards – including a timely 8-yard gain on fourth down – on the final Amory drive to get his teammates to the host’s 1. Senior Stephen Otey rolled into the end zone to cap the 87-yard drive, and Mark Creekmore provided the final margin with his successful point-after attempt as Aberdeen (8-2, 4-2) fell for the second time in three weeks.

Lackey steps up
“Evan ran the ball harder than I’ve ever seen him run,” Otey stated. “I’m just lucky to have gotten the chance to score.”

“Somebody had to step up, and I’m a senior and had to lead my team to a victory,” Lackey said. “This feels real good since they beat the wheels off us last year. This year, we were able to take it to them.”

Ezell pulled down an errant Marcus Hinton screen pass and raced down to the Bulldogs’ 23 with four ticks remaining in the first half to give the Panthers (5-5, 4-2 Division 2-3A) one last shot at the end zone.

It was just enough time for Otey to connect with Josh Andress as the half expired. Andress beat several Bulldog secondary members for the ball, and Lackey provided what proved to be the winning margin with a successful 2-point conversion rush.

“We made a bad mistake before halftime, and we let them get back in the ball game,” Aberdeen head coach Chris Duncan said. “Amory played a great ballgame, but we made a lot of mistakes. We knew we couldn’t make mistakes like those in a close game like this.”

For much of the first half, the Amory defense stymied Aberdeen’s star running back, Jamerson Love, holding the 1,000-yard rusher to just 32 yards on his first six carries.

After the Panthers narrowed the deficit to 14-7 with an Otey 14-yard scoring strike to Lashad White, Love returned the ensuing kick 57 yards and danced into the end zone from 38 yards out on a shovel pass from Marcus Hinton on the Bulldogs’ next snap with 1 minute, 20 seconds remaining before intermission.

Love’s score sandwiched a pair of Panther touchdowns in the half’s final 1:43.

Ezell rises up
Ezell prevented another touchdown early in the fourth quarter when Love took another shovel pass and appeared to have the outside sideline. Ezell tripped up Love at the Panthers’ 13. It was as close to the end zone as the Bulldogs would get as the 82-yard, 11:30 drive resulted in no points after Ezell blocked Antonio Crayton’s 30-yard field goal attempt.

Lackey finished with 145 yards, outdueling his counterpart in Love (63 yards) on the ground. Otey completed 8-of-17 for 102 yards, with four of his completions netting first-down yardage.

Hinton had a solid game, finding his target 18-of-24 times for 206 yards with three scores and the costly interception.

“We’re getting hot at the right time,” Byrd exclaimed, leaving the field after his team won its fourth game in five weeks.

Both squads will open up the state playoffs away from home after the outcome of their contest coupled with Louisville’s loss to Winona.

Box score:
Amory 22, Aberdeen 21
Amory 0 15 0 7 - 22
Aberdeen 7 14 0 0 - 21

First Quarter
ABD – Rashad Pargo 14 pass from Marcus Hinton (Antonio Crayton kick), 7:09

Second Quarter
ABD – Erik Buchanan 6 pass from Hinton (Crayton kick), 9:10
AMR – Lashad White 14 pass from Stephen Otey (Mark Creekmore kick), 1:43
ABD – Jemerson Love 38 pass from Hinton (Crayton kick), 1:20
AMR – Josh Andress 23 pass from Otey (Evan Lackey rush), 0:00

Fourth Quarter
AMR – Otey 1 rush (Creekmore kick), 2:54
Records: Aberdeen 8-2 (4-2), Amory 5-5 (4-2)

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