Turnovers and failure to score in 'red zone' cost Cougars
By Mike Hoffman

Aggressive defense Cougar defenders Deric Finely and Riley Eller stopped this Falcon running back cold in Friday night's Hoosier Heartland contest at Frontier. The hosts went on to win the game 26-7. Bill Stauffer photo

It's beginning to sound like a broken record, turnovers and not scoring deep in the red zone. But if the Carroll Cougars want to turn things around, they are going to have to do something about those two factors.

In Friday night's game the Cougars faced the Frontier Falcons at Falcon field in Chalmers. Turnovers would haunt the Cougars as the Falcons came away with 26-7 victory.

In the first drive the Cougars were intercepted at the 45-yard line and all the Falcons did was capitalize. They scored on a Charlie Yerk run, and the point after attempt was good for a 7-0 lead at 8:10 (1).

The Cougars started at the 37-yard line, as Eller took the ball. The Falcons knew where the quarterback was going and stopped him for a loss. It seemed the Falcons' defense knew what play the Cougars were running. On third down, a catchable pass was in and out of the hands of the receiver.

The Cougars just didn't appear to be focused all night on either side of the ball.

On the next drive the Falcons marched down the field and scored on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Dustin Sterrett to Schnepp. The PAT was good at 4:04 (1) 14-0 Falcons.

The Cougars took the kickoff and returned the ball to the 34-yard line. The Falcons intercepted the Cougars again as the ball was thrown right at the defender. Then Brackett went untouched 20 yards for the score. The PAT was blocked and it was 20-0 Falcons.

The Cougars however, on their drive after the kick and a good return by Deric Finley took the ball to the 38-yard line. On third down, Eller found Sullivan for a 36-yard touchdown. The kick was good, 1:12 (1) 20-7 Falcons.

Was this score going to put some spark in the offense and defense? That would be all the scoring the Cougars did the rest of the night. In the red zone they would turn the ball over on downs. Several times the ball was thrown to Sullivan when Zook was wide open.

But neither team would score the rest of the evening. Take away two turnover TDs and the score would have been 13-7, Frontier.

At the start of the second half, the Falcons couldn't move the football and punted. The Cougars couldn't move it either, and had to punt.

The Falcons got the ball back but fumbled it. Walters recovered for Carroll. Two 15- yard penalties on the Falcons gave the Cougars 30-yards to work with. They picked up a

first down then Finley moved the ball to the 10-yard line, only to have 3 passes fall short and the Falcons took over.

Frontier picked up 2 quick first downs and a 15-yard penalty on the Cougars. This was the way it was the rest of the game. It was a defensive battle; neither offense could do anything.

The final score was 26-7, Frontier. The Cougars could not capitalize on the Falcons' fumbles and if the Falcons hadn't intercepted those passes, who knows what the score might have been. There were several kids out there doing a lot of hitting on defense for the Cougars.

However, you're not going to win many games with only

73 yards rushing and only 88 yards passing for a 161-yard total for the night.

The Falcons had 180 yards rushing and 156 passing.

The Cougars fall to 1-7 on the year. They are at home Friday against the North White Vikings, who come in 3-5 on the year. The tailgate party starts in the parking lot at 6:30. Kick-off is 7:30.

Friday night's game will be the seniors last regular season home game, and they will be recognized.

The sectional starts in two weeks with the Cougars hosting Wes-Del.

Let's get those Cougars fired up and get our second win of the season.