Mohawks fall at Rivercrest

"We knew they were good going down there," Piggott Mohawk head football coach Dave Hendrix noted of the Tribe's visit the Rivercrest last Friday night, "I think they're the most talented team we've faced this year." And the Colts lived up to that billing, scoring on two of their first three plays from scrimmage as they beat the Mohawks 41-14. For the Tribe, workhorse running back Alek Samples had another good game and led all rushers on the night.

With light rain falling the Mohawks traveled to the banks of the Mississippi for their conference tilt with the Colts, and took the opening kick-off. On the first offensive series the Tribe got several strong runs, with Samples leading the charge, including a fourth down and two. But shortly after the first down, Spencer Coomer coughed-up the football and the Colts took over.

On the first play from scrimmage the Colts got a short gain, but on the second play quarterback Demoine Brown ran it in from 28 yards out for the first score of the contest. Rivercrest tacked-on the PAT and were on top 7-0 with 8:53 left in the first quarter.

Samples returned the ensuing kick-off back to the Mohawk 30 yard line, and again the Tribe tried to put together a drive. That ended after a third and 11 pass from Jon Perkins to Tanner Murray fell incomplete, and Samples punted the ball back to the home team.

On the first play of the Colts drive they broke off a 68 yard touchdown run, and again the PAT was good as the score moved to 14-0.

In the second quarter the Mohawks put together their most impressive drive of the ballgame, which culminated with a two yard touchdown run by Samples with 10:35 to go in the first half. Perkins added the PAT and the score stood at 14-7.

But the Colts would score several more unanswered touchdowns, one on a 42 yard run by Brown and another on a pass interception and return. Rivercrest also benefited from a late penalty on a field goal attempt in the first half, but got a second chance and completed a touchdown pass with no time on the clock.

Finally, with 2:34 to go in the third quarter, Samples broke off a 47 yard touchdown run for the Mohawks. Perkins again added the PAT, but it was too little, too late.

On the game Samples led all rushers with 89 yards on 17 carries and two touchdowns, while Zach Redmon finished with 32 yards on six carries and Coomer had 31 yards on eight carries. Brown led the Colts in rushing with 82 yards on 10 carries. As a team the Mohawks had 173 yards rushing and a 15 yard pass completion to Murray for a total of 188 yards on offense. The Colts finished with 223 yards rushing and 46 yards passing for a total of 269 yards in total offense.

With the loss the Mohawks fall to 1-7 overall and 0-5 in conference play while the Colts improve to 6-2 overall and join the logjam at 4-1 in conference play. The Tribe will visit the Manila Lions this week with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. Last week the Lions visited Corning and pounded the Bobcats 41-0 as they improved to 2-6 overall and 1-4 in conference play. Currently Rivercrest, Cave City, Harrisburg and Earle are all 4-1 in conference with two games to play. The Mohawks will close out the regular season next Friday at Corning.