Pictured is Drew Elmore
After their Week0 victory against Magazine, the Mansfield Sr Tigers were dismantled by the quarantine effect. The Tigers were cut so deep by quarantines that they were forced to cancel their games against Waldron and Elkins due to numbers so low that they couldn’t fill a roster. This past Friday, the Tigers had just enough players suited up for a game. Although still, the Tigers were out multiple starters, the ability to play was there so they were able to step up to the plate. After searching near and far, the Tigers were able to find an opponent in their conference rivals, the Cedarville Pirates. With both schools agreeing to play the game as a nonconference game, it was finally time for some football.
Mansfield came out hyped and ready to get after it. But that hype quickly diminished into holding on to hope as the Pirates recovered the onside kick and ran a reverse pass for a touchdown on their first play from the scrimmage. The Pirates tacked on a two-point conversion to take an early 8-0 lead. The Tiger’s offense went to work as Zayne Dugan zipped a quick pass to Tyler Turnipseed for a 17 yard gain. That unfortunately was the quick start to the end of the drive as the Tigers were forced to punt. It took Cedarville just one play again to score on a halfback sweep. Mansfield was able to stuff the two-point conversion this time but was still down 14-0. Mansfield’s offense began to click as they drove downfield within the 10-yard line. Fisher Willsey drove his way into the endzone, but the run was called back on a penalty against the Tigers. Still being close to the endzone, Mansfield went for it on 4th down but were unable to convert.
Cedarville coughed the ball up on their next possession and Drew Elmore flew in for the recovery giving Mansfield life once again. But the rust of two weeks without an opponent was evident as the Tigers got inside the 10-yard line again but couldn’t punch it in closing the 1st quarter down 14-0. Cedarville drove the ball down the Tiger’s throat early in the 2nd quarter, but the Tigers defense held strong and forced a turnover on downs. Mansfield faced a similar fate as they were forced to punt and then suffer another Cedarville score in two plays. Unable to covert their two-point conversion, Cedarville bumped the score up to 20-0. Back on offense, Mansfield was again able to drive on the Pirates with big runs by Willsey and Tyler Woolbright but this time the Tigers capitalized with a big Dugan to Turnipseed pass as Turnipseed screamed downfield for a Tiger touchdown. The extra-point kick was no good, but the Tigers were on the board down 20-6. Cedarville would again put points on the board to bump their lead to 26-6 going into the half.
Coming into the second half, the Tigers were short-handed again as two more starters were unable to play due to injury. But that didn’t stop them as they went to work quickly on defense. Mansfield stalled the Pirate’s initial surge but were caught up in mixed coverage as the Pirates scored off of a big pass. Tacking on the two-point conversion, Cedarville went up 34-6 with 9:02 left in the 3rd quarter. Cedarville’s offense would again prove to be too much for the Tigers as they would again drop a pass off into the endzone just a few minutes later in the 3rd pushing their lead up to 42-6. Most teams would give up at that point and call it a night. Mansfield’s coaches and players prove that giving up is never an option though. On the Pirate’s next position, the Tigers forced another fumble on Cedarville, and it was Drew Elmore again coming up with the recovery. Elmore wasn’t finished either as he snagged a pass from Dugan for a first down and then followed his own lead to do the same for another Tiger touchdown. Dugan then took the Tigers on his shoulders and drove in for the two-point conversion closing the gap to a 42-14 score.
The surge was a little too late for the Tigers as they fell in non-conference play to the Pirates with a final score of 42-14. Head Coach Tim Cothran said “We looked like a team that hasn’t played a game in three weeks. It’s hard for players to keep a game mindset going when they’re not playing games. We are still missing several starters which hurt last night, but hopefully, we will be near full strength by next Friday when we face West Fork.” The Tigers will host the West Fork Tigers for Homecoming on Friday, September 24th which will be the start of Mansfield’s conference games.
