The Sebastopol Bobcats led the Noxapater Tigers for more than three quarters.
But the Tigers recovered an onside kick late in the third quarter as they scored 14 unanswered points in the second half to take a 21-20 come-from-behind win over Sebastopol on Thursday night.
The Tigers improve to 3-4 on the season and will travel to 0-6 Leake County this week.
“I’m proud of the guys,” Rigsby said. “We have a lot of young guys and they are maturing every week. They could have chosen to give up and they didn’t. I’m proud of the fight they gave and appreciative of the effort. Sebastopol was a power football team and kept coming right at us and never let up. That’s a credit to out guys. They hung in there and kept fighting until we had some good things happen.”
The Bobcats got the ball to start the game and immediately went down the field as they took seven plays to go 57 yards. Micheals finished off the drive with a 1-yard run and Cy Mooney booted the PAT to give Sebastopol an early 7-0 lead.
The Bobcats then turned the ball over on downs and then fumbled Noxapater 5 to end a scoring threat.
The Bobcats added another first-half score as Andarius McDougle scored on a 57-yard run. Mooney hit the PAT and Sebastopol led 14-0.
After an interception by Noxapater’s Keon Tucker late in the first half, the Tigers hit pay dirt as K.D. Carter hit Kyle Phillips on a quick pass that turned into a 57-yard touchdown pass with 10 seconds left in the half. D.J. Kelly hit the PAT and Sebastopol led 14-7 at the half.
The Tigers got the ball to start the second half and had a field goal attempt blocked.
From there, the Bobcats went 77 yards in nine plays as Micheals scored on a 7-yard run. Mooney’s PAT failed and Sebastopol held a 20-7 lead.
The Tigers answered right back as they went 60 yards in three plays as Carter hit Javion Eichelberger on a 49-yard touchdown pass with 1:42 left in the third quarter. Phillips ran in the two-point conversion and Sebastopol held a slim 20-15 lead.
The Tigers then got a break as they recovered an onside kick and went 45 yards in eight plays. Carter finished off the drive with a 14-yard run with 9:34 left in the game. The try for two failed and Sebastopol led 21-20.
“I thought when we revered the onside kick that was the turning point of the game,” Rigsby said. “We had some momentum after we scored and then we got the onside kick and got even more momentum. It became more apparent that we were in a position to obtain victory.”
Sebastopol put together a 13-play drive but lost a fumble to end the scoring threat as the Tigers held on for the win.
The Bobcats had 321 yards rushing and 33 passing for 354 yards of total offense. Micheals had 126 yards rushing on 16 carries and two TDs. McDougle had 120 yards rushing on eight carries while David Williams had 74 yards on nine carries. Micheals was just 4-of-10 passing for 33 yards and also had two interceptions.
The Tigers had a balanced offensive attack with 178 yards passing and 179 rushing for 357 yards of total offense. Carter was the majority of the offense for Noxapater with 178 yards passing on 10-of-13 attempts. Carter had 172 yards rushing on 23 attempts.
Keon Tucker had four solo tackles and two assists while Emmanuel Carter had two solo tackles and seven assists. Kyle Phillips had four solo tackles while K.D. Carter had three solo tackles and two assists. Jimmie Graham and Conner Thrash each had two solo tackles and two assists while Christopher Dale had one solo tackle and five assists. McCown Stalcup also had five assists while DeMarcus McCulley also had three assists.
“When I talked to the radio station, I talked about endurance,” Rigsby said. “My biggest concern was the endurance factor. It’s easy to stop power in the first and second quarter but then attrition sets in. You don’t know how they are going to handle it when everything is on the line. To have a bunch of young guys that aren’t going to quit makes you proud. It’s one thing for juniors and seniors to have that attitude but for ninth graders, that’s what I’m proud of. When you get that out of ninth graders, that’s when you have something.”
This week’s game
The Tigers will hit the road this week as they travel to Walnut Grove to take on winless Leake County.
The Gators are 0-6 on the year with losses to Forest (42-0), Puckett (15-0), Amite County (34-6), Ethel (38-6), West Lowndes (35-8) and Vardaman (20-6).
“They have a lot of size which concerns me,” Rigsby said. “They run a power scheme as well on offense and have good athletes that can stretch the field. When you look at all of that, you see danger. We have to find a way to minimize their skill guys and keep the score as low as possible.”
