Fountain Lake runs by Miners in 5AAA
JAMIE BOSHEARS Sports writer

FINDING ROOM BOB MCADORY PHOTO Bauxite's Tanner Bates runs the ball against Fountain Lake.

It was a long walk back down the hill to the bus for the Miners after taking on 3A-force Fountain Lake on the road.

Bauxite was mercy ruled 49-13 by the Cobras.

"As bad as the score indicated, I think we can carry something from this game to the practice field next week so that we can put a better team on the field for weeks to come," said Miners head coach Jon Watson.

This season the Cobras have outscored their opponents 298-114, scoring an average of 55 points a game and giving up an average of 23 points per game.

On the other hand, Bauxite's opponents have outscored them 132-182, scoring an average of 26 points per game and allowing an average of 36 points per game.

The opening kick by Austin Hicks was spotted at the Cobra 35 after going out of bounds. Andrew Davis of Fountain Lake carried the ball off the first play over into Miner territory for a first down at the 41.

Caleb Perry and Josh Cauldwell stop another Cobra drive up the middle at the 39-yard line, but Justin Rushing bolted into the open field on the next play for a touchdown. The point-aftertouchdown by Andrew Pearson was successful as Fountain Lake took an early 7-0 lead over Bauxite.

TACKLED BOB MCADORY PHOTO Bauxite's Rustin Kidd tackles a Fountain Lake runner on Friday.

With Steven Brooks out with an injury, Tanner Bates moved into the backfield alongside Blake Childress to receive the kick. He carried to the 38-yard line to start off the possession. A handoff from Childress to Blake Wood and another to Hicks, brought up third-and-5 for the Miners from their own 43. A fumble on the following play was recovered by Fountain Lake.

Wood along with Zac Moore stopped the first play, a quarterback keeper by Davis, behind the line of scrimmage. From behind the 40, Fountain Lake quarterback David Gray completed to Eric Pearson for another touchdown. Pearson added the extra point to make it a 14-0 ball game with 8:55 to go in the first quarter.

The remaining eight minutes of the quarter were scoreless for both teams.

On the opening play of the second quarter, Davis burned the right side of the field from the Bauxite 41-yard line to add another Cobra touchdown. Pearson's kick was good and Fountain Lake was up 21-0.

With 11:50 left in the second quarter, Rushing's kickoff was returned by Childress to the 32. A facemask called on Fountain Lake's defense put Bauxite on the 37.

A handoff to Hicks up the middle for a gain of three yards put the Miners at second and seven from the 40.

The following play Childress fired a straight shot directly up the middle to Hayden Anderson who caught the ball with all defense behind him. Anderson's touchdown was the first points for Bauxite bringing them within two touchdowns with 11 minutes remaining in the second quarter.

After the kickoff, the Cobras took over at the Bauxite 48. Moore and Wood finally stopped a pitch from Gray to Mark Makin for a run at the 35. On the next play, which was exactly the same Rustin Kidd halted the Makin drive at the 29. Fountain Lake's Quentin Lindsey broke through the Bauxite defense into the open field but was tracked down by Hicks at the 2. Davis followed with a walk into the end zone.

With 9:52 left in the second, a fumbled kickoff reception by Childress caused Bauxite to start their drive from their own 13. Hicks picked up six yards from a hand off, followed by a Wood run to the 27 for a first down. Although the drive looked assuring, Ty Hughes was brought in to punt again.

Makin fielded the punt at the 40 and bruised his way through the Miner defense to score. Pearson's kick was good, setting the score 35-6 in Fountain Lake's favor.

The Miners' next possession began at their own 34 and began shaky.

Dwight Taylor recovered a fumble on the first play. Although it resulted in a loss of yardage it kept the ball in Bauxite hands.

The Miners tried to keep it moving down field, but continuous stops by the Cobra defense prevented that from happening and Hughes would have to punt again.

Cauldwell made a sack with 4:37 remaining in the second pushing the Cobras back to the 11 yard line from their previous position at the 22.

Another stop by Cauldwell at the 18 would bring up third and 14 for Fountain Lake before they called a time out. Hicks, Krauss, Moore, and Perry would all make stops before a pass from Gray to Rushing from the Bauxite 20 landed the Cobras in the end zone. Pearson's PAT was good to end the half with a score of Fountain Lake 42, Bauxite 6. The margin would hold the mercy-rule in effect for the remainder of the game.

As the Cobras kicked off for what would be a short possession for the Miners, they brought down Bates at the 27. Short gains by Childress and Wood put Bauxite at the 34 before a turnover on downs put the ball in Cobra hands.

Offsides on Bauxite moved the Cobras up the field to begin the possession on first down with five yards to go at the Bauxite 29. A run by Lindsey, which was stopped by Hicks, Childress, and Cauldwell, followed by a quarterback keeper for Gray, which was stopped by Dakota Hill; put Fountain Lake inside the 15. Davis took the hand off from Gray in for a touchdown and along with Rushing's kick the Cobras bumped their score up by 7 for a 49-6 lead.

In the fourth, the Bauxite defense forced a punt by Fountain Lake and the Miners took a fair catch at their own 28. Childress picked up a first down with an 11-yard quarterback keeper.

Consecutive first-down runs by Hicks and Wood to put the Miners at the Cobra 28, following a Childress pitch to Bates for a 5-yard gain.

On fourth-and-6, with 1:53 left in the game, Watson signaled for a timeout. When play resumed, Childress hauled a quarterback keeper into the end zone for Bauxite's second touchdown. Hughes' kick was good to finish the game.

'"We just don't look like the Bauxite Miners yet because right now we're so inexperienced," Watson said.

Bauxite will travel to Centerpoint to take on the Knights Friday.

"We played a fine football team tonight," Watson said. "Fountain Lake will definitely be in the top two or three in the state. You know a fine football team makes you look awful, and we do enough of that ourselves without somebody helping us."