Tribe stung by Hornets

What has turned into a long season for the Mohawk football team continued Friday night, as the Tribe hosted Harrisburg for homecoming 2009 at Parker Field. And despite conditions more adapted to ducks, the Hornets used their explosive offensive attack to shut-out the Tribe 34-0. This week the Mohawks will host the Hoxie Mustangs as they continue to look for their first conference win of the year.

Coming off the tough loss at Earle the week before, Mohawk coach Dave Hendrix knew things were not going to be much better Friday night. "We're just trying to weather the storm," he noted of facing the fourth and then sixth-ranked 3A teams in the state in back-to-back games.

With a good homecoming crowd on hand the Mohawks took the opening kick-off from the Hornets, and Alek Samples got an excellent return out to around the 40 yard line. But the Mohawk's first drive of the ballgame would falter, and the Tribe turned it over on downs. Actually the Mohawks did look sharp in that first drive, but had a long gainer by Spencer Coomer called back on a holding penalty. The Tribe then found themselves facing fourth and 18, but were only able to get about 10 yards on a Jon Perkins to Tanner Murray pass completion. The pass to Murray, who was returning from a hand injury, was the only pass completed on the night by the Mohawk junior QB.

After turning it over on downs the Mohawks put up a good fight against the Hornets, and despite giving up one big gainer were able to get the ball back on downs deep in their own territory. But again the Piggott offense stumbled, and that led to the first Harrisburg score.

The score was set-up by a long Zach Davis to Turner Norsworthy pass completion, that set-up a one yard touchdown run by Josh Fallon with 1:06 to go in the first quarter. Although two-point conversion attempt was no good and the Hornets took a lead that would never relinquish.

Throughout the remainder of the ballgame the Mohawks continued to show improvement moving the football, but were unable to find the endzone. Several of the drives suffered from penalty flags, and the Tribe fumbled the ball away twice. Meanwhile, the Hornets got another touchdown with 3:49 to play in the first quarter, and another with about a minute and a half left in the first half. They tacked-on a one yard touchdown run early in the second half, and a late touchdown by Fallon on a nine yard run. On the game the Hornets had 361 yards in total offense to just 133 for the Mohawks, much of which was provided by Samples.

On the game Samples led all rushers with 117 yards on 18 carries, while Zach Pretty paced the Hornets with 99 yards on 20 carries. The only other Mohawk with double-figure rushing yardage was Zach Redmon with 15 yards on six carries. Meanwhile, Perkins was one for three with ten yards passing, while Hornet QB Zach Davis completed nine of 15 pass attempts for a total of 211 yards.

With the loss the Tribe falls to 1-4 overall and 0-3 in conference play while the Hornets improve to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in 3A-3 play.

Friday night at 7:30 the Mohawks will host the Hoxie Mustangs at Parker Field. Last week the Mustangs traveled to Corning and pounded the Bobcats 47-0 as they moved to 3-3 overall and 2-1 in conference play.