Bruins survive scare

Inside the game’s final minute, Murray County’s Taylor Patterson appeared to hit Luke Mealer in the end zone on a 17-yard pass play to pull the Indians to within two points of rival Northwest Whitfield. But game officials ruled that a diving Mealer trapped the ball, resulting in an incomplete pass.

Six plays later, the Bruins made a defensive stand on fourth-and-goal from the 6 and walked out of Bruin Stadium with an 18-10 win in a Sub-region 7A-4A game Friday night in Tunnel Hill.

“It was a touchdown,” Indians coach John Zeigler said. “I’m not the referee, they are. But I saw the pass and I saw the catch.”

The Indians (1-4, 0-2) finished the game without a turnover — the Bruins had two — and broke a 13-quarter scoreless streak on Trevor Nations’ 16-yard run in the first quarter, going into halftime with a 7-3 lead. But the Bruins (3-2, 2-0) scored two touchdowns and a two-point conversion in the second half, with Lance Andrews breaking a 36-yard touchdown run with 8:09 left for the final score.

“Murray County played very good football tonight,” Bruins coach Mike Falleur said. “They were very emotional and our kids weren’t. (The Indians) were ready and they did a great job, we weren’t ready and we survived.”

On the game’s first possession, Murray County punted on the fourth play, but the Bruins were called for a personal foul for tackling the center, Falleur said after the game. The Indians took advantage of the miscue, driving 65 yards in four minutes, with Nations taking Patterson’s pitch on a quarterback option and running to the outside for the score. On the play before, Patterson kept the ball for a 17-yard gain.

Junior Ernesto Lopez, who took over kicking duties for Rey Hernandez, kicked the extra point to give the Indians a lead. Bruins place-kicker Oscar Solarzano nailed a 43-yard field goal as the first half ended.

Northwest opened the second half with a 71-yard drive capped by Mike Martin’s 22-yard touchdown run up the middle.

On the previous play, Martin also broke a 22-yard run. Chad Keeter then ran a quarterback option and, just as he reached the line of scrimmage, dumped a shovel pass to tight end Nermin Delic, who was standing wide open in the corner of the end zone for the two-point conversion to make the score 11-7.

But the Indians would continue fighting, and with six minutes left in the third quarter, D.J. Winters hit Keeter in the back field and forced a fumble on a handoff exchange that Indians lineman Josh Young recovered, giving the Indians the ball at the Bruins’ 11.

Four plays later, Lopez booted a 36-yard field goal to pull the Indians to within 11-10.

The Bruins got some insurance thanks to Andrews, who used good blocking to run up the middle before breaking two tackles himself in the open field for a hard fought score.

“I just saw the end zone was was thinking six points,” said Andrews, who finished with 55 rushing yards on six carries. “I kept my knees driving high and kept my legs moving.”

On the game’s last possession, the Indians took over with eight minutes left on their own 24.

Patterson, who finished with 73 passing yards on 12 of 19 passing, led the charge as the Indians converted on two third-and-ten plays — a run and a catch by Zac Dills — and two fourth-and-shorts.

“We made some plays when we had to make some plays,” Zeigler said. “The offense was definitely improved tonight. ... Not turning the ball over was huge.”

The game ended on the incomplete pass to Mealer with 22 seconds left on fourth-and-six.

“We played good, pretty much mistake free,” said Patterson, a junior who made his first prep start in place of senior Austin Williams. “Of course it hurts to be this close, but we’ll be OK. We’re better as a team now then we were at the start of the season.”

BOX SCORE: NORTHWEST WHITFIELD 18, MURRAY COUNT 10

SCORING BY QUARTER

MUR 7 0 3 0 – 10

NOR 0 3 8 7 – 18

SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter

MUR — Trevor Nations 16 run (Ernesto Lopez kick), 8:00

Second Quarter

NOR — FG Oscar Solzarzano 43, 0:00

Third Quarter

NOR — Mike Martin 22 run (Nermin Delic pass from Chad Keeter), 8:25

MUR — FG Lopez 36, 3:25

Fourth Quarter

NOR — Lance Andrews 36 run (Solarzano kick) 8:09

YARDSTICK

MUR NOR

First Downs 9 12

Rushes-Yds 27-83 32-207

Passing yards 73 31

Com-Att-Int 12-19-0 4-13-1

Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-1

Punts-Avg 5-39 4-32.75

Penalties-Yds 1-5 4-35

Turnovers 0 2

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Murray County: Zac Dills 9-58, Trevor Nations 5-16, Jake White 1-6, Taylor Patterson 9-6, Jacob Born 3-0; Northwest Whitfield: Chad Keeter 12-68, Lance Andrews 6-55, Mike Martin 5-48, Wesley Bell 2-16, Jordan Darnell 4-15, Nathan Sistrunk 2-3, Zach Sloan 1-2

PASSING — Murray County: Patterson 12-19-0 73; Northwest Whitfield: Keeter 3-13-1 31, Jordan Darnell 0-1-0 0

RECEIVING — Murray County: Austin Williams 3-27, Luke Mealer 4-26, Raheem Adams 2-17, Dills 2-13, Nations 1-1, White 1-minus 1; Northwest Whitfield: Tyler Painter 3-28, Martin 1-3

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