Journal Staff
An untimely holding penalty that took a potential game-tying touchdown off the scoreboard cost Minden’s Crimson Tide a tough 28-21 loss to parish rival North Webster Friday at W.W. Stadium.
North Webster had pulled from a 21-21 fourth quarter tie when running back Braedon Robinson ripped off a 45-yard scoring run with a little over four minutes remaining in the game. Robinson’s run capped a six-play, 70-yard drive to give the Knights their winning margin.
Minden’s Cameron Mitchell took the ensuing kickoff 27 yards to the Tide 47-yard line and three plays later Jakobe Jackson scampered 46 yards to the endzone only to see the score called back. Three plays following the penalty, North Webster put the game on ice with an interception with just 1:25 left in the contest.
Minden got off on the right foot quickly in the game, taking just three plays to score after a Knights’ punt. Dunovan Robinson ended a 57-yard drive with a six-yard run to paydirt, and Bryson Ranger kicked the Tide to a 7-0 advantage with 9:47 to go in the first quarter.
That lead evaporated when quarterback Christian Whitlock hit Xavier Mcglothan with a 19-yard scoring pass to knot the score with 3:27 left in the opening quarter.
Jackson put the Tide back ahead 14-7 with a 10-yard run early in the second quarter, but North Webster’s Jkobe Lawson answered with a two-yard scoring run to end a nine play drive that started at their 48 yard line. A deflected pass bounced back to Whitlock to become a 25-yard completion that kept the drive alive.
North Webster took the lead just before halftime when Mcglothan returned a Tide punt 70 yards to the Crimson Tide three-yard line, and Robinson scored from one yard out for a 21-14 advantage.
A 13-play, 84-yard drive that took nearly eight minutes off the clock to start the third quarter got the Tide even one more time at 21-apiece. Porter Neal got the touchdown, powering in from six yards away.
With the loss, the Tide falls to 0-3 for the season heading into next Friday’s contest at North DeSoto to open District 1-4A play. North Webster now stands at 2-1 and will travel to Richwood of Monroe to open District 1-3A competition next Friday.
