By Webster Parish Journal Staff
Minden’s Crimson Tide saw a furious fourth quarter comeback come up one score short Friday, falling 26-20 to the Homer Pelicans in a non-conference contest in Homer.
Trailing by 20 points entering the final 12 minutes, the Tide defense stiffened to hold the Pelicans in check while the offense put together a pair of drives to pull within one score. But a Pelican pass interception at its 35-yard line with 1:30 remaining iced the game.
Minden jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead midway through the first quarter when Cameron Mitchell hauled in a 13-yard scoring pass from Hudson Brown to cap a 49-yard scoring drive. That drive was set up by a Jakobe Jackson interception.
For the next two and a half quarters, Homer ran up 26 unanswered points, beginning with a nine-yard run by quarterback Zion Warren with just over three and a half minutes left in the second. With the Pels leading 7-6, Warren hit on a 27-yard scoring toss to Banks only eight seconds before halftime for a 13-6 lead.
After the half, another Warren-to-Banks scoring pass, followed less than a minute later by a four-yard TD run from Greg Williams, put Homer ahead 26-6 entering the final quarter. Williams’ score came after Homer recovered a Tide fumbled kickoff at its 33-yard line.
Dunovan Robinson got Minden back on the scoreboard with a one-yard run at the 6:48 mark, making the score 26-12 after a failed two-point try. A 24-yard completion from Brown to Maurice Rabb put the Tide in position to score.
With 3:09 left in the game, Brown again hit Rabb for a score, this time from 48 yards away, and following Bryson Ranger’s successful PAT the Tide trailed by six.
Williams led both teams in rushing with 146 yards on 22 carries plus one touchdown, while Tide ball carriers found the going tough against the Pelican defense. Dunovan Robinson was Minden’s top gainer with 33 yards on eight carries with one touchdown while Jackson picked up 21 yards on 12 attempts.
Brown had 11 completions on 21 pass attempts worth 131 yards and a pair of touchdowns, but also threw three interceptions. Jackson was three-for-five for 43 yards.
Mitchell caught nine passes on the night for 51 yards and a touchdown and Rabb caught three for 76 yards and a score. Jackson Smith had one catch for 29 yards and Ladarion Robinson caught one pass for nine yards.
With the loss, the Tide sees its record fall to 0-2 heading into next Friday’s contest against parish rival North Webster. Homer evens its season record at 1-1.
