Houston Academy happy with win over Cottonwood

The weather was pretty. The football was not.

But when the final horn sounded Friday night in Houston Academy’s 20-6 win over rival Cottonwood, the Raiders were still undefeated in Class 2A, Region 2 play, and that was plenty good enough to paint a smile on head coach Jimmy Addison during his post-game address to the players.

Houston Academy took advantage of a Cottonwood turnover, executed a fake field goal to perfection and scooped up a blocked punt and ran it into the end zone to help account for its three touchdowns.

Meanwhile, Cottonwood’s offense sputtered after starting quarterback Andrew Cain was lost early in the first quarter with a knee injury. The Bears were never able to sustain a drive until the fourth quarter when they were down 20-0.

“We were a totally different defense from last week,” said Addison, alluding to the Raiders’ 42-17 loss to Slocomb. “I thought we executed well all night.”

Neither offense played well, but Houston Academy took advantage of a short field to take the lead in the first quarter. Will Andre jumped on a Bear fumble to give the Raiders the ball at the Cottonwood 32. The fumble came on the first series after Cottonwood lost starting quarterback and defensive back Cain, who hurt his knee on a previous defensive series and spent the rest of the game sidelined on crutches.

“I heard it pop,” Cain said. “I’ve never felt anything like it. I just wanted to throw up.”

Cain will get the knee examined by a physician today, but he fears a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

Four plays later, Andrew Dauphin scored on a 17-yard run to make it 7-0 with a minute remaining in the first quarter.

Neither team found an offensive rhythm in the second quarter before the Raiders moved the ball into Bear territory late in the second quarter. The drive appeared to stall at the Cottonwood 23 when Addison sent Will Andre in to try a 40-yard field goal.

However, backup quarterback Tory Kirkland sneaked in as the Raider holder, snatched the ball away before Andre booted the ball and threw to Jack Cramer for 10 yards and a first down. Three plays later, Seth McGowan scored on a 2-yard run to make it 14-0 at the half.

“That’s something we work on every week,” Addison said. “Tory did a great job of handling the football and selling the fake.”

Houston Academy’s only second half score came early in the third quarter when Drew Smyth blocked a Bear punt deep in Cottonwood territory and McLane Borland scooped it up and ran into the end zone to make it 20-0. The extra point was blocked.

Overall, negative plays plagued Cottonwood all night. The Bears were flagged for six penalties for 50 yards in the first half and had 22 plays during the game (not counting penalties) that either failed to gain or lost yards.

Cottonwood did mount two drives in the fourth quarter. The first was turned away, but Marcus Glanton capped off the second with a 1-yard run to score with 3:50 left. The extra point failed and so did Cottonwood’s ensuing on-side kick. From there, the Raiders ran out the clock.

The Raiders improve to 5-1 and 4-0 in region play while Cottonwood drops to 3-3 and 1-3 in the region.