Disaster in the Second Quarter
Eric Tabor
Tuesday May 5, 2009
The South Georgia Wildcats win streak stopped at three games on Saturday night in Huntsville, Alabama as five costly turnovers, all in the second quarter, spelled doom for the Wildcats as the Tennessee Valley Vipers handed South Georgia a 54-28 loss at the Von Braun Center.
The Wildcats' first possession was short-lived as South Georgia turned the ball over on downs.
Tennessee Valley immediately capitalized on the Wildcats' turnover on downs as Travis Blanchard took a handoff and scored on a six yard run to give the Vipers an early 13-0 lead.
Tennessee Valley would break the game open in the second quarter. Sparked by five South Georgia turnovers, the Wildcats recorded the team's first touchdown in that aforementioned horror quarter, as Darnell Kennedy capped a 45-yard scoring drive that took 1:29 off the clock with a twelve-yard touchdown pass to Alvance Robinson, his 13th receiving touchdown of the season, that gave cut the Viper lead to 13-7.
Leading by seven points with under fourteen minutes remaining in the half, the Viper' defense padded that lead by forcing multiple turnovers that would expand the lead to 47-7 heading into the locker room at halftime.
Second half action proved to be nearly the polar opposite of the first half. As the offense scored on all but it’s very last possession and the defense gave up only one score.
“We came out flat,” said Kennedy, who threw for 248 yards and four touchdowns, but was sacked four times, fumbled twice and threw an interception. "I rushed some throws and missed some throws in the second quarter and the game got away from us."
The Vipers' 47-7 lead looked to be insurmountable, yet the young Wildcats rode the arm of Kennedy and all af2 receiver Antwone Savage to trim the lead and score 21 unanswered points.
But the effort was too little too late as the Vipers hung on for a 26 point victory.
The contest improves the Vipers to 4-2 on the season and drops the Wildcats to 5-2 on the season with the loss. The all-time series between the two teams who have met 9 times is now 6-3 in favor of the Cats.
Leading the way for the Wildcats was Antwone Savage who tallied 116 yards on nine receptions for an average of 12.9 yards per catch.
The Wildcats return to action on Saturday, May 9 at Cooper Tire Field in the Albany/ James H. Gray Civic Center as they take on Jared Lorenzen and the Kentucky Horsemen.