Arlington quarterback Tate Kolwyck fumbles the ball Friday against Collierville. The Dragons forced three fumbles in the game. Photo by Roger Cotton
By Steven Jenkins
The Collierville Dragons broke a 6-game losing streak against the Arlington Tigers Friday night with a 44-30 win at home.
The Collierville team that stepped on the field against Arlington for Homecoming Night played one of the most offensively efficient games in recent history.
The Dragon’s offense racked up 396 total yards for the game, with 320 yards coming from the run game.
Collierville’s defense forced four turnovers (three fumbles and one interception) with 16 points coming from those turnovers.
Special teams also played well, with Dylan Scott having multiple touchbacks on kickoffs and going 3-for-3 on field goals (for 22, 27 and 29 yards).
However, the key factor was that Collierville’s offense was so efficient that the Dragons never needed to attempt a punt through four quarters.
On Arlington’s first drive, Collierville defensive back Zack Mitchell recovered a Tiger fumble at the Dragon’s 19. Collierville then put together a long drive and scored on a 29-yard field goal courtesy of Dylan Scott.
On the next Arlington offensive series, Blake Stigger recovered another Tiger fumble. The Dragons took over at Arlington’s 17.
Peyton McCay scored on an 8-yard run for a 10-0 lead. Late in the first quarter, the Tigers got on the board with a 99-yard kickoff return to cut the lead 10-7.
Early in the second quarter, Collierville drove down the field to score on a 19-yard pass from Matt Connors to Justin Fowlkes for a 17-7 lead.
Collierville’s defense caused another Tiger turnover with Chris Parrino’s interception on the Tiger 40-yard line. This resulted in a 22-yard field goal by Scott for a 20-7 lead.
The Tiger’s ball protection didn’t get any better, with another fumble caused and recovered by Wyatt Raines, which led to another Collierville field goal to extend the lead to 23-7.
Ed Pomphrett ran back a 46-yard punt return to the Arlington 29 to setup a 2-yard touchdown run by McCay. With 25 seconds until halftime, the Tigers scored on a 20-yard pass for a halftime score of 30-14.
Collierville started the second half with a long sustaining drive that took nearly five minutes off the clock. The Dragons ended the drive on a 1-yard touchdown run by Connors to push the lead to 37-14.
After Cole Johnson blocked a Tiger punt, the Dragons put together another scoring drive that was capped off by McCay’s third touchdown of the game for a commanding 44-14 lead.
However, the Tigers didn’t throw in the towel, scoring on a 13-yard touchdown run from quarterback Tate Kolwyck and subsequent two-point conversion.
They struck again on a 42-yard touchdown pass from Kolwyck to Justin Robbins late in the game. Kolwyck would finish the game 228 passing yards.
Despite Arlington’s late success, Collierville handed the Tigers their second loss of the season. The win was the Dragon’s first against the Tigers since 2009.
With four straight district games left on the schedule, Collierville controls its own destiny as to where they will be seeded in the state playoffs.
“We had some tough practices this week,” said Head Coach Mike O’Neill. “We challenged them and the players met that challenge. Our goal was to play football and have fun tonight, be as coachable as possible and do what you learned this week. We did an about face this week and I couldn’t be more proud of my team. ”
Collierville’s next game will be at home against district rival Houston on Oct. 2 at 7 p.m.
BOX SCORE
First Quarter
• Col — Dylan Scott 27-yard field goal
• Col — Peyton McCay 14-yard run (Dylan Scott kick)
• Arl — Tevarious Foster 98-yard kickoff return (Blake Allen kick)
Second Quarter
• Col — Justin Fowlkes 19-yard pass from Matt Connors (Dylan Scott kick)
• Col — Dylan Scott 22-yard field goal
• Col — Dylan Scott 29-yard field goal
• Col — Peyton McCay 2-yard run (Dylan Scott kick)
• Arl — Bryan Lewis II 20 pass from Tate Kolwyck (Blake Allen kick)
Third Quarter
• Col — Matt Connors 1-yard run (Dylan Scott kick)
• Col — Peyton McCay 2-yard run (Dylan Scott kick)
Fourth Quarter
• Arl — Tate Kolwyck 12-yard run (Tevarious Foster pass from Tate Kolwyck)
• Arl — Justin Robbins 42-yard pass from Tate Kolwyck (Amar Ibrahim pass from Tate Kolwyck)
RUSHING – TIGERS, Tevarious Foster 17-90 — DRAGONS, Matt Connors 11-83, Peyton McCay 30-152.
PASSING – TIGERS, Tate Kolwyck 17-26-228-1 — DRAGONS, Matt Connors 7-11-76-0.
RECEIVING – TIGERS, Bryan Lewis II 7-77, Justin Robbins 7-114 — DRAGONS, Justin Fowlkes 4-52.
