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The Simpson Academy Cougars took the field Friday night, entertaining the Cathedral Green Wave from Natchez. The Green Wave enjoyed themselves, walking away with the win. The final score was 40-24 and the Cougars are now 5-1 on the season.
More importantly, the Cougars are 0-1 in their district, residing in 4th place. Ahead of them, Adams County Christian, Columbia Academy and Cathedral are yet to lose a district game.
The game started off well for the Cougars. After the Cougar defense forced a three-and-out by Cathedral offense, the Cougars got things running, in typical Cougar fashion. The Cougars put together a 7-play drive that covered 78 yards. The highlight of the drive was a 49 yard run by Kyle Burney. Kyle also finished the drive with a one yard touchdown run, giving Simpson its first lead of the game.
Later in the first quarter, the Green Wave came back to tie the game on a 33 pass play to #22 Dee Fleming. Following this score, is when things started to go south for the Cougars.
The next drive for Simpson was interrupted when the Green Wave intercepted a pass at the Simpson 25 yard line, and raced untouched into the end zone for anther Cathedral touchdown. Just like that, Cathedral had taken a 14-7 lead. The Cougars would add a field goal in the second quarter, to close to within three points at halftime.
The first series of the second half was very similar to the first series of the game for the Cougars. This time the highlight of the drive was a 56 yard run by Kyle Burney for a Simpson touchdown and their second lead of the night.
The Green Wave came right back and scored again. It took the Green Wave less than two minutes to retake the lead. This time is was a 9 yard pass to Fleming.
The Green Wave lined up to kickoff. The kick rolled a total of 10 yards, on purpose. The ball deflected off of the Simpson player and was recovered by #22 Fleming at midfield. The next play resulted in a personal foul penalty against the Cougars. One play later, Cathedral was in the end zone after a 35 yard pass play to #12 Craig Bradley.
From that point on, the Green Wave controlled the game. Cathedral would score again before Simpson could manage to find the end zone again. With 4:09 left in the third quarter, Kyle Burney scored again, this time on a 35 yard run. With the score, Simpson closed the gap to 34-24, before ultimately dropping the game by a final score of 40-24.
The game did include some inspired player performances. Kyle Burney’s feet were on fire, as he ran for 208 yards on 24 carries. Kyle was also credited with all three of Simpson’s touchdowns.
Scott Johnson had a great game from a special team perspective. Scott was perfect on all three of his extra point attempts and connected on a 25 yard field goal in the second quarter. His best play came while punting. The ball sailed over his head on the snap. Johnson collected the ball at the goal line and managed to get the punt off, which rolled dead near midfield.
Patrick Zila played his best game of the year from his defensive tackle spot. Zila was credited with 7.5 tackles, 6 of which were solo. Zila had 3 sacks and 5 tackles for loss. He also managed to block two extra point attempts by the Cathedral kicker.
The Cougars actually ran more plays on offense and outgained the Green Wave, 349 yards to 269. At halftime, the Cougars had 218 yards of offense to Cathedral’s 68. However, the Cougars turned the ball over 3 times and were penalized 7 times for 90 yards. Several of those penalties were of the personal foul variety and came at critical times in the ball game. Instead of forcing the Green Wave to punt, they were given the gift of a first down.
Simpson steps out of district play this week to take on former district rival, Central Hinds. This game marks the first of three straight road trips for the Cougars. After Central Hinds, the Cougars will play three straight district games, which will dictate their postseason positioning.
The Cougars have shown that they can play football with anyone in the MAIS. If they can control their turnovers and avoid the costly penalties, there is no question they can make a run which could result in another trip to Mississippi College.
