By Austin Bishop
The Star Herald
FRENCH CAMP —
If cats truly have nine lives, the French Camp Academy Panthers left Friday night's 52-42 win over Montgomery County with only eight.
The Panthers, ranked No. 4 in the state in MHSAA Class 1A by the Jackson Clarion-Ledger and No. 7 by the Mississippi Prep Sports Source, survived a see-saw battle that saw FCA put up plenty of offensive numbers but put forth an unimpressive defensive effort.
"I have never had a team look that bad defensively," said FCA head coach Nathan Wright. "I was surprised we looked like we did, but we did. I have been trying to play a lot of guys with a 'White' and a 'Blue' defense and playing different units at a time, but it just wasn't working."
French Camp jumped out to a 22-6 lead after one quarter of play, only to have the visiting Hornets real off three straight touchdowns to take a 30-22 lead midway in the second quarter.
"When we got up 22-6 I really thought it was going to be over at that point," Wright said. "Maybe that was a mistake. They threw a big pass (for a touchdown) and picked up a fumble and ran it in and everything turned around."
After falling behind 30-22, French Camp righted its ship temporarily taking a 38-30 lead on a 69-yard touchdown run by Justin Anderson and a 7-yard pass from Jesse Hoskett to Josh Williams.
But almost before the Panther fans could stop celebrating, Montgomery County had struck again, scoring on a 63-yard touchdown run to cut it to 38-36.
FCA and Montgomery County swapped touchdowns in the third quarter, with Williams scoring on a 26-yard pass from Hoskett for the Panthers.
The winners led 44-42 after three quarters of play, but finally stretched it out to a 10-point lead on an 86-yard touchdown run by Anderson and Jovon Turner's two-point conversion run.
"We had some defensive stops in the fourth quarter, but there was still plenty of time for them to come back," Wright said. "We just held on."
After the visitors had taken an 8-0 lead on their first possession, French Camp scored first quarter touchdowns on a fumble recovery in the endzone by J.R. Ward and runs of 7 and 1 yards by Anderson.
Anderson led French Camp with 246 rushing yards on 17 carries, while Jesse Hoskett hit on 14-of-25 passes for 211 yards. Aro Nebk had five catches for 55 yards, Josh Williams four for 64 and Ben Hoskett three for 72.
French Camp is off this week before paying a visit to Region 3-1A favorite Nanih Waiya on Sept. 10 in the league opener for both teams.
"That's a big ball game," Wright said. "It seems that what happens in that game (against Nanih Waiya) really affects us down the road. It has developed into a good rivalry."
