The Plain Dealing Lions lost a heartbreaker at home to the D’Arbonne Woods Charter Timberwolves Friday night, falling 24-18.
With the game tied at 16, the Lions faced a fourth-and-4 with less than a minute left in D’Arbonne Woods territory. A pass to Keldrick Carper was underthrown and tipped. The Timberwolves intercepted it and ran it back to around the Plain Dealing 20.
D’Arbonne Woods scored on a reverse with 20 seconds left to claim the victory.
“It was just one of those heartbreaking losses,” Plain Dealing coach James Thurman said.
Plain Dealing dropped to 4-5 overall and 2-4 in District 1-1A. The Lions close the regular season at Arcadia (7-2, 5-1) this Friday. The Hornets knocked off Cedar Creek 36-20 Friday night.
D’Arbonne Woods, which had to forfeit its four wins through Week 7 for using an ineligible player, improved to 1-8 and 1-5.
Despite the loss, Thurman thought his team put forth an outstanding effort, especially in the second half. The Lions trailed 16-8 at the break, but Thurman felt the Timberwolves were dominating.
“It felt like they were about to run away with it,” he said. “Physically, they were just driving us into the ground with their offense and we were missing tackles. They came down close and almost scored again right before halftime. We kind of laid the challenge down to those kids — blocking and tackling, got to be more physical. They came out and really shut them down in the second half.
“We didn’t make the plays we needed to — bottom line — and they did. But I was very proud of the way the kids responded in the second half. It hurts to lose it but at the same time I think we grew up a little tonight.”
Thurman said the Lions missed several chances to put more points on the board.
“We fumbled on an earlier drive going in at 5-yard line,” he said. “We dropped a touchdown early on in the third quarter and dropped what would’ve been a fourth-down conversion.”
— Russell Hedges, rhedges@bossierpress.com
