Fountain Lake rushes past Paris

— Fountain Lake, the No. 2 seed from the 5-3A Conference, held Paris, to 52 yards in the second half Friday night en route to a 27-6 victory in the quarter finals of the Class 3A state playoffs at Beckham Memorial Stadium.

Paris (10-3), the second seed from the 4-3A Conference, trailed just 7-6 at halftime despite being out gained by 100 yards. Fountain Lake (11-2) scored on its opening possession on James Cooper’s 37-yard pass to Jordan Stone, but the Eagles answered midway through the second quarter on Harrison Ramsey’s 1-yard sneak that capped a 14-play, 82-yard drive.

“For some reason, we’ve been lackadaisical in the first half,” Fountain Lake Coach Tommy Gilleran said. “They ran some stuff we haven’t seen all year, and once we figured it out we were there.”

The Cobras opened the second half by scoring on Andrew Barber’s 8-yard run to go ahead 13-6. Barber started the drive with a 70-yard run.

Paris answered with another long drive and was inside the 10, but Fountain Lake came through with sacks on third and fourth down to take over possession.

Cole Murray recorded the sack on third down, with Cole Richards getting the second sack.

Paris was called for two consecutive unsportsmanlike conduct penalties following the sack, setting up the Cobras in Eagles territory. Mackenzie Ross broke loose on a 37-yard run, and, after Fountain Lake was backed up by a holding penalty, Ross broke free for a 17-yard touchdown run to push the lead to 19-6 with 8:36 left in the game.

“We had first-and-goal down 13-6 and had a chance to tie it or try to go for two,” Paris Coach Bryan Hutson said. “They shut us down on those plays and hit a couple of long runs on us.

“It was still anyone’s ballgame in the fourth quarter, so I was proud of our kids.”

Fountain Lake got the ball back on Tyler Barber’s fumble recovery and Ross ran 18 yards on the next play. He fumbled short of the goal line, but Dakota Weatherford was there for the recovery and the touchdown to give the Cobras their final score.

Fountain Lake’s second half shutout was in jeopardy after it fumbled the snap on a punt Trenton Moeller recovered for the Eagles, but Tyler Barber ended the threat with an interception, his eighth of the season.

Andrew Barber led the Cobras with 140 rushing yards on 13 carries and Ross had 135 on 16 carries as the Cobras churned out 320 rushing yards.

Ramsey completed 6 of 12 passes for 84 yards, with the Eagles gaining only 155 yards. Ramsey was sacked four times, three in the second half.

Fountain Lake travels to Harding Academy, the 2-3A champion, next Friday for the semifinals.

Sports, Pages 33 on 11/24/2012

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