By Jason Avery
News-Times Staff
PARKERS CHAPEL - Most coaches are generally not satisfied with ties, but Parkers Chapel coach Jacob Midyett may have to make an exception.
Down 14-0 in their scrimmage against Smackover with 2:47 left to play, the Trojans scored a defensive touchdown before a second turnover allowed them to tie the game in the final minute to tie the Bucks 14-14 on Tuesday night at Victor Nipper Stadium.
“Like I told them in the huddle, we did a lot of things wrong. We had a lot of bad effort plays,” Midyett said. “But in the last five minutes, we made plays. Our kids fought. They didn’t give up. They were down 14-0 with four minutes left, but we got a quick turnover and forced another turnover. We made something happen. You’re never happy with a tie, but I was pleased with the way we came back.”
The Bucks seemed to be in good shape after their defense got a fourth-down stop to get the ball back.
However, a bad snap led to Brendan Winchester recovering a fumble in the end zone to get the Trojans on the scoreboard.
Trailing 14-6 after the extra point was no good, the Bucks had a second chance to try and close out the Trojans, but on third-and-3 from their 32, Klayton Ballance recovered a fumble to give the Trojans the ball at Smackover’s 18.
Three plays later, the Trojans were faced with a fourth-and-7 from the 15, but Caleb Jacobs found Canon Morgan for a 15-yard strike to pull the Trojans within 14-12.
Parkers Chapel then tied the game after Hunter Palculict snared Jacobs’ pass in traffic to make the two-point conversion successful.
“Before that two-point conversion, Hunter Palculict had two or three big drops, and he was down on himself a little bit, but when the time came, he made a play that tied the ballgame up,” Midyett said.
Prior to the Trojans and Bucks playing two eight-minute quarters, the first part of the scrimmage was scripted with each team’s first-team and second-team offenses and defenses going head-to-head for a series of plays.
During the scripted part of the scrimmage, Smackover’s first-team offense scored four times, while the Trojans scored twice.
Smackover’s second-team offense scored five touchdowns, while the Trojans scored four.
For Smackover coach Mike Baysinger, there was much to be pleased with, but also plenty to work on.
“I thought the effort was pretty good,” Baysinger said. “We’ve got to work on tackling, snaps and a lot of small stuff that we need to work on. This is a process right now. We’re building the foundation and laying the groundwork, and there’s a lot of parts that go into building a new house. Right now, that’s where we’re at. We’re OK. We’ve got a lot of stuff to work on to get better.”
Although pleased with the start his offense had, the bad snaps at the end of the game left the Bucks’ new coach looking ahead to getting things shored up before their season opener next Tuesday against Harmony Grove at Southern Arkansas University.
“I thought the offense started out well, but we kind of tanked at the finish,” Baysinger said. “There’s highs and lows in this game. The offense played well at times, and the defense played well at times, but we’ve got a lot of issues we’ve got to fix on both sides of the ball.”
While it certainly wasn’t pretty at times for the Trojans, Midyett believes his team can build from Tuesday’s performance.