At the end of last season by graduating eight starters on the defensive side of the ball, one would imagine that Collierville’s defense would be having issues filling the absent holes but the defense is holding its own against some tough competition. The offense on the other hand has had troubles moving the ball down the field. The Dragons started the game scoring a rushing touchdown but multiple Collierville turnovers in the 2nd half were key factors in the game as Cordova beat the Dragons 27-10.
Collierville started the game out strong with recovered muffed punt and starting the drive on the Wolves 40 yard line. The Dragons put together a 7 play 40 yard drive with Matt Connors running it in for the touchdown (PAT by Dylan Scott was good) for the early 7-0 lead. On the next series for Cordova, the Wolves drove down the field and kicked a 25 yard field goal to cut into the lead 7-3. The Wolves scored again in the 2nd quarter on a 35 yard field goal to only be down 7-6. Collierville answered with a 38 yard field goal by Dylan Scott to extend the lead 10-6. A bad punt by the Dragons gave Cordova good field position on the Collierville 43, and the Wolves capitalized on their opportunity by scoring with less than a minute left in the half on a 3 yard rushing TD (PAT was good) for a halftime lead of 13-10.
The second half started out good for Collierville when the Dragon defense stalled a Cordova scoring drive when the Wolves’ 22 yard field goal attempt hit the right side goalpost was no good. After the failed field goal attempt, Collierville started the next series on its 20 yard line and fumbled the next snap with the Wolves running the fumble into the end zone for a touchdown (PAT was good) for a 20-10 lead that they would not give up. Collierville gave up two more turnovers (fumble and interception) with Cordova scoring another 3 yard touchdown (PAT was good) in the 4th quarter to end the scoring for a final score: Collierville 10, Cordova 27.
Collierville’s 7 first downs with 100 total yards of offense was factor as Cordova’s total offense went for 343 total yards. The bright spot for Collierville’s offense was Edmond Pomphrett with 77 total yards. The Dragon defense was led by Tyler Garvey’s 12 tackles and Cole Johnson with 11 tackles.
When asked about the team’s performance, Coach O’Neill stated “We struggled tonight. We came out with some energy at first and offensively we did some good things, but we played all of our cards early in the game. Defensively, we played with a lot of heart; this could have been a game where we gave up a lot of points but our guys kept playing hard. We have to fix some things on the offensive side and regroup. ” Collierville is 2-3 at the midway point of the season with the Dragons in the middle of their tough district schedule.
Dragons look to return to their winning ways at home on 9/25 against Arlington. Come out to support your Dragons. If you can't make it - LIVE streaming of the game will available on the NIAAA Dragons app.
