Weather sponsored by:
The Drew Central Junior Pirates entered Thursday’s contest on the road at Rison against the Junior Wildcats with a disadvantage before taking the field with several players out of the lineup due to illness.
Rison would receive the opening kickoff from Chase Knowles after winning the opening coin toss and electing to receive the football.
The Junior Wildcats would receive the kick at their own 20 by Payne Prescott who returned the kick 80 yards for an opening touchdown return.
Deion Jones added the two-point conversion to put the Junior Wildcats up 8-0.
Rison’s kick after the score would go out of bounds to give the Junior Pirates their first possession at the Drew Central 47, but the drive would not get off the ground, after losing yardage on an offensive pass interference penalty set the team back 15 yards and forced the Junior Pirates to punt the ball away with Rison taking over at their own 44.
Deion Jones would receive the handoff on the first play of the drive and would cover the 56 yards for the Junior Wildcat touchdown with Prescott adding the two-point play to give Rison a 16-0 lead with 5:27 remaining in the first quarter.
The Junior Pirates next possession would begin at the Drew Central 31 with the offense being forced to punt the ball from their own 43 on the drive.
On the punt, the ball would touch the Rison returner with Ashton Govan falling on the live ball for the Junior Pirates at the Rison 21.
Ryder Birch would attempt a pass on the first play of the drive to the endzone with the ball being intercepted by Trent Southerland at the two yard line with a return out to the Rison 22.
Riosn’s possession after the turnover would extend into the second quarter with Rison adding another touchdown and two-point conversion to extend the lead to 24-0.
After forcing Drew Central to punt, the Junior Pirates would get the ball back on an interception by Govan, however the Junior Pirates would fumble the ball on their drive with Rison recovering.
Rison would score on the Possession to go up 30-0 with 1:51 remaining in the half and after a second fumble by the Junior Pirates, the Junior Wildcats would add another score and two-point conversion before the end of the first half to extend the lead to 38-0 to set up the remainder or the contest to be played under the Sportsmanship Rule” beginning with the second half kickoff.
The Junior Pirates would receive the second half kick at their own 25 by Govan and return to the 29 but a holding penalty would move the ball back to the Drew Central 19.
After a two-yard loss to the 17, Birch would drop back to pass, connecting with Govan for the 83-yard touchdown reception. Lewis would add the two-point conversion to cut the lead to 38-8.
After the Junior Pirate score, Drew Central’s Lewis would strip the ball from the Junior Wildcat returner at the 50 and would return the turnover into the endzone for the second Junior Pirate touchdown of the contest.
The two-point conversion was unsuccessful with the Junior Pirates trailing the Junior Wildcats 38-14.
Rison would add the final score of the contest on their next possession on a five yard pass and a two-point play set up the final score of 36-14.
The Junior Pirates will return to Drew Central on Thursday, October 23, to host Barton at Mike Pennington Stadium.
The 7th Grade Pirates will begin the night at 5:30 pm with the Junior Pirates taking the field at 7 pm.
The contest will be the final home game of the season for the Junior Pirates with the final game of the season being held on Thursday, October 30, on the road at Palestine Wheatley with the 7th Grade Pirates at 5:30 and the Junior Pirates versus the Junior Patriots at 7 pm.
