Lions let lead slip away in loss to Bees

The Region 4-3A matchup between Cannon County and visiting Upperman promised the victor an opportunity to stay in the picture for first place in the five team region with three region games left to play.

Both teams came into Friday night's contest 0-1 in the region standings. The Bees of Upperman sent the first message with a five-play, 64-yard drive that took just 1:39 off the clock to start the game.

Cannon's first drive would stall at midfield but after Upperman took over, they immediately fumbled the football and that's when the Lions would take advantage.
Starting at the Bee 31, the Lions took it all the way down to the Bee 8-yard line.

After a big loss and a penalty, the Lions on 3rd and goal from the 20 found paydirt when Charlie Parrish's spiral pass to Wade Love connected for the yardage necessary to put points on the board. The extra point was added by Michael Lockhard and Cannon tied the game at 7-7.

Lockhart would easily pick off a telegraphed Upperman pass in the second quarter which set the stage for Cannon's go ahead score.

Starting at their own 37 yard line, the Lions played smash mouth football, running the ball right at the Bee defense picking up short yardage gains each and every play. The key play of the drive came after a false start penalty turned a 4th and 1 situation to a 4th and 6. Parrish tucked the ball in and earned the first down keeping the drive alive and four plays later it was Cole Hill, who started at tailback in place of injured Cort Litchford, who scored from 1 yard out to give Cannon a 14-7 lead going in at halftime.

The Lions got the ball to start the second half, and what they didn't need to happen happened. After a quick four down and out first possession, they were forced to punt. Bee backup quarterback and punt returner Donovan McAllister who hadn't seen action all first half returned the punt 57 yards which set up Mason Bilbrey's first of two touchdowns from 3 yards away. Reece Smith was able to block the extra point attempt and Cannon held on to a 14-13 lead. That lead was short lived as on Upperman's next possession, it took one play and a monster 73 yard run by Bilbrey to capture the lead even though the two point conversion attempt was stopped. Upperman led at that point 19-14.

The third quarter continued with more big plays that the Lions couldn't stop.

On the Bees third possession of the quarter, they widened the lead 27-14 after a three play drive ended in the end zone and the two point play was good.

The Bees would add the final score of the night, this time taking advantage of a recovered Cannon turnover to win it 34-14.

The Lions rushing game totaled 155 yards. Cole Hill gained 60 of those while Brady Cunningham had 82. It was a lot of short yardage gains from the pair with Cunningham's runs of 11 and 15 yards the longest of the night.

Midway through the season, the Lions fall to 0-5 overall and 0-2 in Region 4-3A.

Next up is the rivalry in Smithville Friday night in a non-region contest against DeKalb County at 7:00.

Scoring Summary: Upperman 34 Cannon County 14
1st Q: 10:47-Upperman-Rinehart 5 yard run EPG 7-0, 5 plays 64 yards 1:39
1st Q: 1:56-Cannon County-Parrish 20 yard pass to Love EPG 7-7. 7 plays 21 yards 3:04
2nd Q: 4:01-Cannon County-Hill 1 yard run EPG 14-7, 10 plays 63 yards 4:53
3rd Q: 10:53-Upperman-Bilbrey 3 yard run EPNG 14-13 1 play 3 yards :06
3rd Q: 7:19-Upperman-Bilbrey 73 yard run 2 point conversion failed 19-14 1 play :36
3rd Q: 3:25-Upperman-McAllister 10 yard run 2 pt conversion good 27-14 3 plays 36 yards 3:16
4th Q: 11:53-Upperman-McAllister 15 yard pass to Cole EPG 34-14 3 plays 40 yards 1:12

Upperman Totals
Total Offensive Yards: 358
Rushing: 32 carries 333 yards
Duke Maresh 9-53
Dylan Rinehart 7-44 1TD
Mason Bilbrey 10-211 2TD
Donovan McAllister 1-10 1TD
Thomas Ensor 3-8
Alex Brown 2-7

Passing:4-8 25 yards
Duke Maresh: 3-6-10-0 TD-1 INT
Donovan McAllister 1-1-15-1 TD-0 INT
Thomas Ensor 0-1-0 TD-0 INT

Receiving:
Logan Cole 2-22 1TD

Cannon County Totals
Total Offensive Yards:204
Rushing: 48 carries 155 yards
Cole Hill 22-60 1 TD
Brady Cunningham 20-82
Charlie Parrish 4-13
Michael Lockhart 2-0

Passing: 5-14-49-1 TD-0 INT
Charlie Parrish 5-14-49-1TD-0 INT

Receiving:
Wade Love 3-40 1TD
Reece Smith 2-9