Carterville scores victory in A-J's homecoming game
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<p class="p1">The Anna-Jonesboro Community High School football team was in a good position last Friday, Sept. 25.</p><p class="p1">The Wildcats trailed by two points and prepared to kick a 21-yard field goal.</p><p class="p1">The kick was off the mark and visiting Carterville claimed a 27-25 hard fought win to dampen A-J's homecoming festivities at The Pit.</p><p class="p1">"No doubt people forget you have to be perfect in four things in a field goal: snap, hold, protection and the kick," A-J coach Brett Detering said. "One guy didn't miss a kick. We put ourselves in a position to win and we didn't execute."</p><p class="p1">Lion coach Dennis Drust further hampered the Wildcats by calling back-to-back timeouts. With all four things for a successful kick to be just right, the snap appeared high and the ball was off the mark.</p><p class="p1">The Wildcats and Lions each now have identical 2-3 records.</p><p class="p1">A-J wasted little time getting its offense rolling to open the game.</p><p class="p1">The Wildcats launched an 80-yard 15-play drive that was capped by quarterback Jake Stark scoring on a 3-yard run.</p><p class="p1">Dakota Earnhart's extra point kick boosted A-J to a 7-0 lead with 4:03 remaining in the opening quarter.</p><p class="p1">The Lions bounced back with a 12-play drive that quarterback Blake Hicks closed out with a 1-yard run.</p><p class="p1">Jeff Giffey's extra point kick knotted the game 7-7 with no time left in the first quarter.</p><p class="p1">The Wildcats were driving again on their next possession when Christian Albert intercepted a Stark pass.</p><p class="p1">Lion running back Markas Lazdinis then scored on an 18-yard run to cap a 10-play drive.</p><p class="p1">Giffey's extra point kick boosted the Lions to a 14-7 advantage with 2:48 remaining in the second quarter.</p><p class="p1">The Wildcats were forced to punt on their next possession and Carterville's drive stalled when a Hicks pass was intercepted by Earnhart.</p><p class="p1">A-J moved downfield around a 38-yard pass reception from Stark to Earnhart.</p><p class="p1">With 44 seconds remaining in the first half, Earnhart booted a 34-yard field goal to pull A-J to 14-10.</p><p class="p1">The A-J defense stiffened to open the second half and forced the Lions to punt for the first time in the game.</p><p class="p1">The Wildcats bounced back and moved deep into Lion territory before being halted on a fourth down.</p><p class="p1">"We should have been able to get that on fourth and one," Detering said. "It's a game of inches."</p><p class="p1">Four plays later, Hicks scored on an 18-yard run. Giffey's kick put the Lions on top 21-10 with 5:22 remaining in the third quarter.</p><p class="p1">A-J then launched a 11-play drive that was capped by Alec Gold scoring on a 2-yard run.</p><p class="p1">Stark passed to Dylan Fox for the extra point conversion to pull A-J to 21-18 with 11:41 remaining in the final quarter.</p><p class="p1">Carterville was forced to punt again and after an 8-play drive, A-J's Gold scored again on a 14-yard run.</p><p class="p1">Earnhart's extra point kick boosted the Wildcats to a 25-21 lead with 5:32 remaining in the game.</p><p class="p1">The Wildcats then drove to midfield and fumbled the football and Hicks picked it up and rambled 40 yards for a TD. The extra point kick failed and Carterville pulled ahead 27-25 with 3:19 remaining in the game.</p><p class="p1">The Wildcats were attempting to move the football to the left side of the field when they attempted the final field goal.</p><p class="p1">Detering said Earhnart is a left-footed kicker and moving to the left side of the field would have increased the chances of having a successful field goal.</p><p class="p1">Stark was 4 of 8 passing for 89 yards with one interception.</p><p class="p1">Gold led the Wildcats rushing attack with 165 yards in 33 carries.</p><p class="p1">"Gold ran well after coming off an injury," Detering said. </p><p class="p1">Carterville's rushing gme was held to 140 yards rushing, while A-J rushed for 286 yards. The Wildcats' Collin Prather had 38 yards rushing on 5 carries and Caleb Clover added 35 yards on 5 carries.</p><p class="p1">"We didn't make plays when we needed to," Detering said. "We very easily could be 2-0 in the conference. We've done that to ourselves the last two weeks. All you can do is go forward and look to next week's game."</p>