Mohawks fall at Cave City

A battered and shorthanded Piggott Mohawk football team traveled to Cave City Friday night for the first conference game of the year. With running backs Zac Trammell and Zach Redmon out of the lineup, along with two-way end Tanner Murray, the Mohawks knew they would have their hands full with the unbeaten Cavemen and their standout linebacker/running back Thamail Morgan. And the Cave City squad lived up to their advance billing, effectively shutting down the Tribe offense as they posted the 20-0 win.

"Sure we were shorthanded, but that's no excuse," Mohawk head coach Dave Hendrix noted after the game, "we've got other guys that can play too. We just got beat, and I got out-coached a little bit..we just got beat and that's the way it goes sometimes."

Coming off the 45-34 win over Clarendon, and a 300-plus rushing night for junior RB Alek Samples, the Tribe knew they would be marked by the stingy Caveman defense. And depending on the depleted ranks of Piggott running backs just compounded the problem.

In the early going of the contest neither offense could get things going, and both squads were forced to punt on their first possessions. But Cave City found paydirt first on a 31 yard catch and run with 1:41 to go in the first quarter. The PAT was good and the Cavemen enjoyed a 7-0 lead.

In the second quarter Cave City extended their lead on a 76 yard touchdown run by sophomore Tyler Poulette. Again the PAT was good, and with 10:18 left in the first half the home team enjoyed a 14-0 lead.

Throughout the remainder of the first half neither team could mount a sustained drive, though the Cavemen did push it deep enough to try a field goal with just under three minutes to play in the first half. That attempt was no good, and neither squad could move the football effectively as the half drew to a close.

Kyle Wright of the Mohawks covered the second half kickoff, and the Tribe then began to put together a sustained drive. But, that effort ended as the Mohawks turned the ball over on downs on a fourth down.

The Cavemen then put together a sustained drive using primarily traps and dives, and Morgan topped it off with a 41 yard touchdown run with 6:15 to go in the third quarter. The PAT was no good, and the score stood 20-0.

Throughout the fourth quarter both defensive units held their ground, and a late scoring effort by the Cavemen ended as Spencer Coomer picked-off a pass in Mohawk territory. Linebacker Luke Yount also had several key tackles, including an open field tackle of Morgan late in the ballgame.

With time running down the Mohawks tried several options, and got positive yard from Samples out of the Wildcat formation. But on the game the Cavemen held the Piggott offense to just 108 total yards, as they racked up a total of 402 yards in posting the conference win.

"They used our aggressiveness and ran behind us, when you're as aggressive as we are that happens sometimes," Hendrix noted, "that's my fault for not having us ready to sit down in the hole like we should."

Samples again led the Mohawks in rushing, but was held to just 77 yards on 18 carries. Coomer had 16 yards on six carries and Yount had two carries for eight yards on the ballgame. Poulette led the Cave City offensive attack with 168 yards on 16 carries and one touchdown. For the ballgame, the Cavemen held the Mohawks to total of just four first downs to 14 of their own. The only positive side for the Mohawks was in penalty flags, as they were penalized twice for 20 yards while the Cavemen had seven penalty flags on the night.

With the loss the Mohawks fall to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in 3A-3 conference play while the Cavemen move to 4-0 and 1-0.

Friday night the Mohawks will travel to Earle to take on the Bulldogs with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff. In week one the Bulldogs beat Conway Christian 44-24, the only time they've given up double figure points this year. In week two they shut-out Marvel 40-0, in week three they pounded Hughes 68-8 and last Friday night they visited Corning and handed the Bobcats a 65-6 beat down.