A current that had been missing surfaced in the third quarter of the Kosciusko Whippets 18-15 loss in Forest, Friday night.
And it felt good.
A safety, a 40-yard touchdown pass to receiver Antonio Harmon Azikwe Mays, a fumbled punt recovered by Kendrell Gamble, some tough running by Marlon Dotson and a Zavier Miller touchdown run gave Kosy an 18-15 lead.
Momentum was on the Whippet side for the first time in the young season.
Unfortunately, the rhythm that had been found on offense slipped away, and the Forest first-down margin (8 to 4) and time-of-possession advantage (30:06 to 17:54) caught up with a defense that has spent too much time on the field through two games.
An early fourth-quarter Forest rushing TD gave the host Bearcats an 18-15 lead that would not be overcome.
“I thought our defense played extremely well throughout the game,” Kosciusko Head Coach Kelly Causey said. “They created some turnovers and got a safety. They played tough the entire game.
“Forest wanted to run the ball right at us and we did much better job stopping the run this week.”
In the season opener, Kosciusko gave up 416 yards to Neshoba Central. The Whippets held Forest to only 174 total rushing yards but managed only 47 themselves.
“We have got to do a better job running the ball,” Causey said. “Our execution of blocking and reads is very low right now and we will work extremely hard to correct that.”
Kody Causey, Ethan Dawson and Devonte’ Ellis led the Whippet defense with 9 tackles apiece. Devonte’ Ellis, Jerrell Erving and Davonta Turner each recorded a sack, Davion Roby had an interception and Gamble had two fumble recoveries.
The next game for Kosy is against Ridgeland.
“(Ridgeland) will be our second 5A opponent in 3 weeks,” Causey said. “If the defense plays like they did against Forest, we’ll have chance to win any game.”
