Prep Football: Cougars get by, on to playoffs

BY NICK ST. DENIS

The Courtland coaching staff preached “start fast, finish strong” all week.

Friday night, the Cougars covered only half of that.

Courtland scored touchdowns on its first two possessions and didn’t find the end zone again until late in the fourth quarter.

And the Cougars gave up a long passing touchdown as time expired in a 21–7 victory over Spotsylvania.

“We lost focus, we lost our kill factor,” Courtland running back Darien Grant said. “[As the game went on] we didn’t want it as much, and we can’t do that in the playoffs next week.”

After breaking away for a 49-yard gain on a fake punt, Grant scored on a 1-yard run early in the first quarter to put his team up 14–0.

Grant totaled 93 yards on the ground.

Courtland opened the scoring just over two minutes into the game on a 69-yard touchdown run by Anton Jenkins, who led the Cougars with 102 yards and two touchdowns on just nine carries.

His second score came with 1:08 to go in the game and was followed by a 40-yard Spotsylvania touchdown pass from Ashten Dixon to Clinton Ferguson.

Spotsylvania hung tough for the final three quarters. Devin Kraft highlighted the defensive effort with a sack and forced fumble, which Spotsylvania recovered. Kraft had another sack later in the game, and teammate Thomas Campbell forced a fumble of his own.

“I could name names all night long, so it would be selfish to pick one [standout player] right now,” Spotsylvania coach Ben Lawrynas said.

Courtland is slated to host Warhill next weekend in the Region I, Division 4 quarterfinals.

“I think our focus will be there this week,” Courtland coach J.C. Hall said. “I’m just looking forward to a full week of practice, and I’m looking forward to playing a pretty good football team.”

Courtland 14 0 0 7 — 21

Spotsylvania 0 0 0 7 — 7

First Quarter

Ct-A. Jenkins 69-yard run (S. Yurgel kick)

Ct-D. Grant 1-yard run (S. Yurgel kick)

Fourth Quarter

Ct-A. Jenkins 3-yard run (S. Yurgel kick)

Sp-C. Ferguson 40-yard pass from A. Dixon (M. Colonna kick)

TEAM STATISTICS

Ct Sp

First downs15 6

Rushing yardage45-325 28-103

Passing yardage54 87

Passes3-12-0 6-14-0

Punts-Avg.1-19.0 3-26.0

Fumbles-lost2-2 2-0

Penalties-yards4-20 5-50

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing: Spotsylvania—Charlie Petitt 16-62; Ashten Dixon 11-39; Travis Huber 1-2. Courtland—Anton Jenkins 9-102, 2TD; Darien Grant 9-93, TD; Josh Howard 13-87; Joe Tyson 8-33; Eric Washington 6-10.

Passing: Spotsylvania—Ashten Dixon 6-14-0 87, TD. Courtland—Eric Washington 3-12-0 54.

Receiving: Spotsylvania—Clinton Ferguson 2-51, TD; Aaron Brown 1-17; Chantz Ballard 2-14; Travis Huber 1-5. Courtland—Darien Grant 1-40; Zach Braswell 1-7; Chris Carpenter 1-7.

Nick St. Denis: 540/374-5440

sports@freelancestar.com

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