Noxapater football coach Casey Orr can officially give it a name now.
After losing in the first round of the playoffs for the second straight year, the Tigers are officially suffering from the Nanih Waiya hangover.
The Tigers struggled on both sides of the football on Friday night as they lost 26-0 to East Marion.
The Tigers finish the season with a 10-3 record, losing back to back games after a regular season-ending loss to Nanih Waiya.
“We picked a bad night to play poorly,” Orr said. “I don’t think we put our best foot forward. They didn’t do the things that we had to do and we weren’t able to swing the momentum in our favor. They made the plays and we didn’t.”
The scene was all too familiar for Orr. Last year, the Tigers lost to Nanih Waiya in the final game of the regular season then went on the road and lost to Stringer.
“I don’t know, our community puts so much into that game,” Orr said. “I think our kids think that if they don’t beat Nanih Waiya that the season is over. We’ve got to do a better job of keeping them focused on the big picture.”
The game started promising enough for the Tigers as they kicked off to East Marion who fumbled the kick. But the Tigers gave the ball right back as they fumbled on their first play from scrimmage. Three plays later, East Marion scored on a 5-yard touchdown run to take an early 6-0 lead.
The Tigers punted after an eight-play series and East Marion went to work again, this time going 57 yards in five plays as they scored on a 29-yard touchdown pass to take a 12-0 lead at the half.
“We didn’t execute on offense at all,” Orr said. “We had too many negative plays and missed too many blocking assignments. Their defensive line was really good an ran to the football. We could never get in any rhythm on offense. It seemed like we were behind the chains all night and in our offense, you can’t do that. We needed to stay in front of the chains and couldn’t do that. They made the plays and we didn’t, that’s the bottom line.”
The Tigers got the ball to start the second half and went three and out on offense. The Tigers then rolled the snap back to the punter. Two plays later, East Marion scored on a 36-yard pass play to take an 18-0 lead.
The Tigers then turned the ball over on downs near midfield on four plays. East Marion then went 51 yards in 10 plays and scored on an 18-yard pass play on fourth down. They converted the two-point conversion and led 26-0.
“I thought we had a really good year, I just hate the way it ended,” Orr said. “We won 10 games in a row in the regular season and that’s the first time since 1999 that we have won 10 regular-season games. There were some bright spots along the way but we felt like our season got cut short. If you don’t come out and play your best in the playoffs, you will get beat and that’s what happened to us on Friday night.”
