By Stan Beall
The Star Herald
WEIR —
The Weir Lions traveled to Crawford last Friday night with more than winning on their minds, heavy hearts were present no doubt.
The Lions led comfortably for three quarters until the East Oktibbeha Titans made a furious comeback attempt in the fourth quarter, but to no avail, the Lions hung on for a 21-20 win.
The Lions scored a touchdown in the first quarter when Tyler Henson scored the first of his three touchdowns, Ty Martin kick, and led 7-0.
The Titans scored in the first quarter as well but failed to covert, trailing the Lions 7-6 after one quarter of play.
The Lions were able to find the end zone in the second quarter as well on Henson’s second touchdown of the night; kick failed, and led 13-6 at the half. The Lions were able to push one across in the third quarter when Henson scored his third touchdown, and Darius Brown added the two-point conversion run to increase their lead to 21-6 after three quarters of play.
The fourth quarter was not so kind to the Lions.
The Titans scored 14 unanswered points to pull within one of the Lions, but Weir was able to hold on to the lead and secure the 21-20 victory.
“Defensively I thought we played pretty well all the way through the first three quarters and we kind of held them in check and forced some turnovers,” said Lion head coach Paul Courtney. “Offensively we were a little bit inconsistent, we moved the ball up and down the field, but we had some turnovers ourselves. I really thought it was not our best game, but we were sure proud to win it.”
Offensively the Lions were led by quarterback Tyler Henson who was 3-7 passing for 12 yards and one interception while rushing for 123 yards on 21 carries with three touchdowns.
Darius Brown rushed for 78 yards on 12 carries with two catches for two yards while Willie Miller carried the ball 13 times for 77 yards with one catch for 10 yards.
Defensively, Brown picked off three passes and Jeremy Miller collected one as well.
“I was pleased by the effort that the kids put in; you know a lot of times when you have an obstacle that seems insurmountable up against you, guys will quit, we really didn’t have that problem––we started with 25 players and ended up with 23,” added Courtney. “We really didn’t have any attrition and I was proud of that. I thought the guys fought hard all the way to the end. I would have really liked to have won a few more games but all in all I was very proud of the effort and I hope this group made all other groups that have come through Weir proud with their ability to stick to it.”
The Lions finished the 2012 season with a 3-8 overall record and a 2-6 record within region play.
