The Wilson (Henryetta) Tigers spoiled homecoming for the Webbers Falls Warriors as the Tigers left town with a 64-44 win over the Warriors in the District BII-4 opener on Friday night at Smokey Cox Stadium.
The Warriors (4-3 overall, 1-1 in district play) lost for the second straight week after having a three-game winning streak.
The Warriors got to within one score of the Tigers (3-2, 1-0) just before halftime on a 10yard touchdown run by Brutus Robinson, who also scored the twopoint conversion with 6:10 left before halftime to cut the deficit to 2220. The Tigers led 28-20 at the half.
After Gunner Shelby picked off a pass with 5:24 left in the third quarter, he was rewarded by catching a 64-yard TD pass from Robinson with 3:10 remaining in the period to cut the Wilson lead to 44-32. That ended up being as close as the Warriors would get.
The Tigers added another touchdown just 16 seconds later to take a 50-32 lead into the final period.
The Warriors got two TDs in the final quarter, one on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Robinson to Wilbourn with 11:40 left to play to cut the deficit to 5038. The other score was a 95-yard kickoff return by Clayton Roberts with 8:07 remaining in the game to cut the Wilson advantage to 58-44.
After falling behind 8-0 with 11:46 left in the first quarter, the Warriors cut into their deficit on Robinson’s 17-yard TD pass to Shelby with 9:14 remaining in the period to cut Wilson’s lead to 8-6. The Tigers led 16-6 after a quarter.
Robinson’s 7-yard touchdown pass to Wilbourn with 9:29 left before halftime cut the Wilson advantage to 1612.
Trailing 28-20 at halftime, the Tigers scored two TDs to take a 44-20 lead with 7:38 left in the third quarter.
Wilbourn’s 55-yard kickoff return cut the deficit to 44-26, setting up Webbers Falls’ thirdquarter rally to get the Warriors to within 44-32 with 3:10 left in the quarter.
Webbers Falls coach Trent Holt said the same issue that haunted them the week before against Savanna returned Friday night — the inability to tackle well.
“We just don’t tackle very well at all,” Holt said. “That’s gotten us two weeks in a row. When you score 44 points and lose, it’s so disappointing.”
On Thursday, the Warriors were slated to travel to face Wesleyan Christian, but the game has been cancelled due to Wesleyan Christian dropping its football program this fall. Thus, the Warriors will get their first district win and get their maximum 15 district points for the forfeited victory.
It also means with no game this week, the Warriors will end up with a bye week before they return to action at 7 p.m. Oct. 24 at home against Copan. Holt and the Warriors plan on making good use of this week’s bye week.
“We had an opportunity possibly to play, but we have some kids who are banged up,” he said. “So, we just decided to take the bye. It (the bye week) will be big. We’re out of school Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week, so we’ll get two days of practice. We’re going to work on tackling quite a bit this week. Offensively, we’re throwing the ball well, but we’re not running as good as we need to. We just have to play better defense.”
