The Kings of Bullard

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

BULLARD – The Lovelady Lions appear to have found a new home outside of Houston County. For the second consecutive Friday night, the Lions found themselves in Bullard and for the second week in a row they brought home a championship.colt-robinson

Last week, they defeated the Joaquin Rams in Bullard by a score of 33-16 to win the Bi-District Championship. This week, they made the journey back to Smith/Cherokee County for a game against the Union Grove Lions in the Area Championship and for the second time in two weeks, they walked off the field with a trophy. This time, it was for the Area Championship and Lovelady was presented with the award after their 36-27 win over Union Grove.

dsc_0498-1The game started out with Union Grove drawing first blood on a five yard touchdown pass from QB Austin Owens to WR Blain Burge. The extra point attempt by Owens was good and at the 5:53 mark of the first quarter, Union Grove led by a score of 7-0.

Lovelady wasted little time in tying the game at seven. Following the kickoff, Lovelady started at its own 35 and used the running of Tim Johnson and Ethan Campbell to move across midfield and into Union Grove territory. After Lovelady QB Lee Holsey connected with Hunter Murray for a nine yard pickup, he found Colt Robinson in the end zone for a 24 yard scoring strike. Devon Hammock knocked the extra point attempt through the uprights and with 2:14 left in the opening quarter the score was tied.

The Lovelady defense helped to untie the score after the kickoff. Union Grove started with gdsc_0433-1reat field position at their own 45 yard line, but lost yardage on three consecutive plays thanks to the stout play of the “D” line and back-to-back sacks by Hammock and Mason Phillips.

After Phillips sacked Owens, Union Grove was forced to punt from inside their own 20. Lovelady’s Ethan Campbell fielded the ball near the 50 yard line and motored his way inside the Union Grove red zone.

Johnson picked up four and Holsey gained eight yards to move inside the 10 yard line. Two incompletions and a five yadsc_0217-4rd run from Holsey moved the ball to the three, but put Lovelady into a fourth and goal situation.

On the first play of the second quarter, Murray moved under center as Holsey flanked out to the left side of the formation. On the snap, Murray scrambled to his right as Holsey came across the middle. Murray stopped on a dime and fired a strike to Holsey in the end zone. As Holsey reached for the pass, he was tattooed by a Union Grove defender, but hung on for a touchdown and Lovelady’s first lead of the game.  Hammock’s extra point was good and gave Lovelady a 14-7 advantage.

Lovelady and Union Grove exchanged punts on their next possessions, but as the clock crept under the five minute mark, Union Grove was knocking on the door. A strange sequence of events transpired next. Owens was picked off in the end zone by Lovelady’s Lane Jones.dsc_0627-1

As Jones returned the ball, he was stripped and Union Grove pounced on the fumble at Lovelady’s 13. Two runs from Owens, as well as the PAT, and the score was tied at 14 with 4:14 left to play in the first half.

Lovelady’s next possession ended in disaster. After starting in good field position at their own 42, Johnson picked up nine yards on first down. A questionable personal foul was marked off against Lovelady after the play was over and the ball was spotted on the 36 yard line. On the next play, Holsey was picked off by Owens who timed his break on the ball perfectly and took the interception 42 yards to the house for a score. After he converted the extra point, the score stood at 21-14 with 3:42 left in the half.  The Owens pick six brought the first half scoring to a close and sent the teams to the locker rooms.

Adsc_0320-2fter a scoreless third quarter that saw Union Grove control the ball for well over nine minutes, Lovelady managed to regain possession and launched a lengthy drive that culminated on the first play of the fourth quarter as Murray scored from eight yards out. Following Hammock’s extra point, the game was tied at 21 with 11:54 left to play.

Lovelady forced a punt from Union Grove but could not do anything with it as Holsey was picked off for a second time. Union Grove, however, failed to capitalize on the turnover and gave the ball right back to Lovelady when the returner fumbled punt.

Lovelady recovered at the Union Grove 24 and on first down Murray picked up 16 yards. An illegadevon-hammockl procedure penalty pushed the ball back five, but Campbell picked up 12 on second down. Campbell’s run moved the ball to the two yard line and Murray took it the rest of the way for a touchdown at with 6:26 remaining in the game. Hammock knocked the extra point home to make the score 28-21 as the clock started to become a factor.

On the ensuing kickoff, Union Grove took possession at their own 46. After a nine yard pickup, bacdsc_0546-1k to back losses set up a fourth and two at the Lovelady 46. Owens was able to pick up the first down and much more as he connected with Burge for 46 yards and a touchdown.

The extra point, however, was a different story. Lovelady’s Blake Johnson was able to knife through the offensive line and get just enough of the ball to deflect it, causing the kick to fall short. The blocked XP kept Lovelady in the lead, 28-27.

After Hammock picked off Owens with two minutes remaining, Murray was able to ice the game with his third TD of the night as well as the two point conversion to make the final score 36-27.

The win moves the Lovelady Lions into the Regional Quarterfinals where they will face the Centerville Tigers in a rematch from earlier this season.

Will Johnson may be reached via e-mail at [email protected]

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