Jason Brotherton has been the Haughton Buccaneers’ head coach for only two games, but there probably won’t be a loss any tougher than Friday’s 23-20 defeat at the hands of the Minden Crimson Tide at Harold E. Harlan Stadium.
The Crimson Tide scored the go-ahead touchdown with about eight minutes left after executing a successful fake punt.
Haughton dropped to 1-1 on the year. The Bucs have another tough test this Friday when Woodlawn (2-0) comes to Haughton. The Knights defeated Booker T. Washington 32-18 Thursday night.
“That’s a tough loss right there,” Brotherton said. “It went about like we thought. Either one of us could’ve won it. It came down to the end and they made more plays than we did.”
The teams were evenly matched. According to Haughton stats, the Bucs had 352 total yards to Minden’s 375.
“They’re a good team,” Brotherton said. “We could play em 10 times and it’d go 5-5.”
Haughton senior quarterback Pryce Curry found his rhythm in the second half. He completed 15 of 22 passes for 225 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He also rushed for a touchdown.
“I thought Pryce struggled in the first half, but he played great in the second half,” Brotherton said.
Lavonta Gipson had a good night on the ground, gaining 92 yards on 14 carries. Josh Lister caught six passes for 116 yards, an average of 19.3 yards per catch.
Emile Cola caught a 52-yard touchdown pass that helped the Bucs tie the game at 10 early in the third quarter.
Minden answered with an Antonio Rivette TD pass to put the Tide back up by seven.
Later in the quarter, Curry scored from 2 yards out and Nico Broadway’s PAT tied it again at 17.
Haughton took its only lead of the game on Broadway’s second field goal, a 25-yarder.
“The effort was good,” Brotherton said. “It was kind of a tale of two quarters in the second half. In the third quarter we were down, then we kind of made all the plays in the third quarter.
“From the nine-minute point on they made all the big plays. We made some mistakes. We had a turnover. We dropped a pass that was going to be a big play. They got the fake field goal.”
Jalob Walker led the defense with seven tackles and two assists. Terrance Sweeney had five solos and two assists. Darren Hicks had four solos and two assists. T’Marquise Winnfield had five solos.
— Russell Hedges, rhedges@bossierpress.com
