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Coffeeville fights hards, falls to John Essex
The visiting Panthers would give it everything they had on the field, but huge offensive plays by Essex would result in a heartbreaking 32-22 loss for Coffeeville. Fans from both teams felt the game was badly officiated. The officials rarely put the ball on the correct yard line, and the Essex chain gang on the opponent's sideline was totally inept. It is unfortunate that these young athletes are asked to come out and give their best on the field, and the officiating crew does not give their best. The Panthers continue to have a problem with fumbling the ball. They fumbled twice in the opening drive and once in their second drive, but recovered all three times. After goingfor it on fourth down of their second drive, the Panthers gave the Hornets the ball on the Essex 36-yard line with 5:01 left in the first quarter. Essex took one play to score on the next drive as Kenneth Phillips ran the ball for a touchdown. The two-point conversion was no good, however, and Essex led by 6. The two teams traded punts for a while until midway in the second quarter when, after an Essex punt, the Panthers began a drive on the Hornet 33. On first down, Tamarcus Gortman scampered to the Essex threeyard line, and a personal foul penalty on the Hornets moved the ball to the one-yard line. Coffeeville was penalized, and the ball moved back to the Essex 5, but Gortman scored a TD from there with 6:19 left in the first half. Gortman also scored the twopoint conversion, and the Panthers had an 8-6 lead. The ensuing kickoff by Coffeeville was out-of-bounds, and Essex took over on their 35- yard line. Two plays later Trell Griffin would run 68 yards for a touchdown. The two-point conversion by Jamie Daniels was also good, and with 4:33 left in the second quarter, Essex led 14-8. That remained the score at halftime. The Hornets had the ball first in the third quarter. They began to go backwards, helped by two penalties. A bad snap on the punt gave Coffeeville the ball on the Essex six-yard line. Two plays later Gortman again scored a TD. The two-point conversion was no good, and the score was tied 14-14. The next drive for the Hornets began with a sack of quarterback Kenneth Phillips by Gortman, backing the ball to the Essex 26-yard line. However, Phillips made up for that error by passing to Trell Griffin for the touchdown on the next play. The two-point conversion was no good, and with 6:28 left in the third quarter, Essex led 20-14. On the next Panther drive, they had reached the Essex 40, but the drive ended in a fumble. The Coffeeville defense held the Hornets, but the Panthers fumbled the punt reception. Essex had the ball on the Panther 47. The Hornets would get as far as the Panther 13, but the Coffeeville defense made them give the ball over-on-downs as the game moved into the fourth quarter. On their next drive, the Panthers got as far as midfield, but also gave the ball back overon downs. Essex had the ball on the Panther 35. A penalty on Essex moved the ball back to the 40, but two plays later, Phillips hit Zachery Fluker with another long TD pass. The two-point conversion was no good, and with 9:10 left in the game, Essex increased its lead to 26-14. The Panthers were not throwing in the towel. They began a long drive, beginning at their own 35-yard line. Hard running with a sense of urgency by Trenton Cade brought the ball down the field in just a few plays. The good effort was rewarded by Cade's seven-yard touchdown run with 4:54 left in the game. The two-point conversion by Gortman was also good, and Essex only led 26-22. The Hornets began a long drive to eat up the remaining clock. Although quarterback Phillips was sacked twice, a reverse play featuring Taveras Griffin brought Essex to the Panther 43. However, the Hornets could only go as far as the Coffeeville 41, and gave the ball over-on-downs with 18.6 seconds left in the game. After two incomplete passes, the Panthers were attempting a halfback pass, but Zachery Fluker got in the backfield and intercepted the lateral pass and ran it in for the final Essex score. It was a shocking end to the Coffeeville hopes. The Hornets won 32-22 for their first victory of the year.
Despite questionable calls by the referees, "we still had to step up and play the game," said Coffeeville Coach Walter Rozier. "We played it at the end when we should have played it at the beginning." With the size of the Panther's players compared to the Essex players, "we should have dominated," he said. "…We would get a big play, and it seemed right after, they would get another one."
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