SEARCY, AR. (LP) —”You win some, you lose some, but you live, you live to fight another day,” as stated by the late John Witherspoon who passed away at the age of 77 on Tuesday, October 29th. The Searcy Lions have been on a roll this season, but now they have one loss to grow on. It’s only their first of the season, so it’s not really a big deal for them—but it’s still a loss and for every loss one takes needs to come with an upgrade.
The Searcy Lions went up against the Jonesboro Hurricanes last Friday on October 25th. The going of the game started pretty bad for the Lions. The Hurricanes started off the game in a good fashion, gaining themselves 17 points in all from two touchdowns and a 20 yard field goal. The Lions managed to score a 18 yard touchdown and extra point to end off the first quarter with 7 on the board. The second quarter was a little bit of a scramble for the Lions as well, but they shaped up and ended off with a score of 21 to go into halftime, while the Hurricanes went in with 30. The 3rd quarter only seemed to show the Hurricanes continue their very little reign over the Lions. This time the Hurricanes only managed to score themselves a 50 yard touchdown along with a field goal, giving them 37 points on the board. The Lions on the other hand scored themselves a 70 yard touchdown, ending off the quarter with 27 points. The Lions seemed to have had a bit of a comeback at the beginning of the 4th quarter but just couldn’t slow down Jonesboro’s offense. Searcy found themselves coming a little close to the necks of the Hurricanes after a 23 yard return and a field goal. Had they stopped Jonesboro’s offense for one last time, the Lions maybe could’ve came out on top. Since this did not take place in the Lions’ favor, the Hurricanes sealed the deal with a 80 yard kick return touchdown, leaving the Lion Stadium with a score of 44 to Searcy’s 34. Such a devastatingly close and well fought game had finally come to an end.
The Lions took this loss as one to grow on for future references according to the coach. “We came back this week really focused,” says Kelley, “I know that everyone was bummed out because we knew that we could have won the game had we played better. Jonesboro dominated us up front for most of the night on the defensive side as well as on special teams. They also forced more turnovers than we did. However, everyone within our program knows that we had some uncharacteristic errors throughout the game.” For better offense that Friday night, Kelley claimed that, “offense has to be able to run the football against a light box as well as be consistent holding onto the football.” For defense, he claimed they “needed to start faster.” This game, however, does not seem to worry the team at all for a possible showdown in the State Finals. “It may have strengthened with this game. Jonesboro is a really high caliber team with really good football players. We showed that we can compete with them and if we take some errors away, start faster, and play like we know we are capable, we can beat anyone.” Sounds like nice determination for a possible championship team to me.
