Cedar loses Classic City Championship in 13-12 nail-biter
The Cedar Shoals Jaguars varsity football team narrowly lost to the Clarke Central Gladiators at the 59th annual Classic City Championship with a final score of 13-12, extending the Jags’ losing streak in the cross-town rivalry game to seven. The Jags were derailed by penalties, missed field goals and poor decision making.
The Jags struck first with a one yard quarterback sneak touchdown by junior quarterback Keelin McLendon in the second quarter followed by a missed extra point by Geo Barrera. The Gladiators closed out the first half with a 30 yard field goal by Heinkel Mejia-Quintero.
Following an extended rain delay, Cedar kept their momentum going with a 2 yard rushing touchdown by junior running back Desmond Moss. After a penalty on the Gladiators during the extra point attempt, the Jags tried to run Moss in for a two-point attempt but failed.
In the end, penalty issues and poor kicking slowed down the Jags’ offensive momentum and allowed the Gladiators to finish the game with ten unanswered points.
A major factor in the game was the long delay due to the weather. Lightning forced a stoppage of play for over half an hour, moving players and fans inside the gym and JROTC building. Free safety and backup quarterback senior Deston Foote thought the rain had a major impact on the game.
“It didn’t affect me, but it affected my teammates. They were sitting down and that messed them up. If it didn’t rain, we probably would have won by 14 plus [points],” Foote said.
Rather than blaming the rain, head coach Rusty Charpia attributed the loss to team mistakes.
“We had a big delay with the storm, but they had to do the same thing. We don’t fumble the ball once or twice, we get the right people on the field, we make a field goal, we win. But that’s football, and that’s why we got to get back out there and coach and teach them what to do,” Charpia said.
Charpia remains positive and looks forward to improvements in the coming games and seasons.
“I’m sure a lot of people are very pleased that we had a chance to win. We’ve made a lot of improvements, but that’s not one of my best coached teams. But they’re going to be some really good kids and players,” Charpia said.
