By Gaylen Duskey
realfang@citlink.net
Bad cases of the "dropsies" and the "oopsies" and the inability to get a running game started cost Calhoun Friday night allowing winless Tyler Consolidated to score a 49-24 victory at Mount Zion.
Alex Doak scored three touchdowns - two from very long distances - and Hunter Lemasters added two more long distance scores on pass interceptions as the Silver Knights, 1-4, took advantage of seemingly every Calhoun miscue. Skyler Leasure and Joshua Ruble had the other two touchdowns for Tyler.
For Calhoun Mason Sheldon, Kirkland Allen and Logan Bennett had a touchdown each.
The Knights got on the board first when Doak was caught in the backfield only to escape. Once in the clear Doak, a sprinter on Tyler's track team, was not going to be caught from behind as he scored from 86 yards away.
Doak burned the Calhoun defense a little later when he sprinted to an open spot - 10 yards away from any defender - and caught Lemaster's 33-yard touchdown pass.
But Calhoun battled back and with time running out in the first half scored on a 13 yard pass from Moore to Sheldon to cut the margin to 14-6.
The Red Devils could have pulled into the lead at intermission as the Knights coughed up the ball deep in their own territory.
Calhoun was inside the 10-yard line with the clock running out when one of the "dropsies" hit as the Red Devil receiver was unable to make the catch with nothing but open field and the end zone in front of him.
Despite that disappointment Calhoun did slug its way into the lead on the second half kickoff as Allen took the ball at his 20 and raced away from the Tyler defenders for the score. He caught the extra point pass from Moore and the Red Devils were on top for the first time in the game 16-14.
The Red Devils held onto the lead for a while but Tyler drove down the field and regained the lead - for good - on a one-yard plunge by Leasure.
Calhoun went back on offense and was moving the ball when another "dropsie" hit as a pass bounced off a receiver's hands into the hands of Lemaster who returned it 55 yards for the score. Lemaster was helped on his return by a couple of the "oopsie" plays as Calhoun defenders had him but failed to secure him.
The Red Devils did have another charge left in them as they scored again on Moore's one-yard run. Moore hit Mason with the extra points to cut the margin to four, 28-24, barely into the fourth quarter.
But then there was a big "oopsie" as on the ensuing kickoff Doak took the ball near the goalline and was seemingly tackled as Calhoun defenders had him in their grasp only to let him get away. He used his sprinter's speed to go 90 yards for the score and a 36-24 lead.
Calhoun almost got it back when Allen took the next kickoff and raced from his 10 to the Tyler 10 before being hauled down. His 80-yard return had Calhoun in good position to close the gap again.
Only this time a couple of "dropsies" including one that was more of a solid hit and good defensive play by Tyler on fourth down turned the Red Devils away.
But Calhoun's defense held and the Red Devils started moving the ball again only to have a pass go off the hands of one of their receivers into the hands of Lemaster who, once again, evaded Calhoun tackle attempts and raced 40 yards for another score making it 42-24.
Tyler finished the scoring by getting an inconsequential touchdown late in the game with its firs string going against the Calhoun reserves as starting running back Ruble scored from 16 yards out.
Calhoun had a decent passing game - save for the drops and ricochets to Tyler defenders - as it hit on 12 of 25 passes for 161 yards. But the Red Devils suffered down the stretch as they missed on eight straight passing attempts - many of them simply dropped - in the second half while the game was still on the line.
The running game was held to 124 yards with Moore leading the way with 87.
Calhoun, 2-3, will try to snaps its three-game losing streak Friday night when it plays host to South Harrison. Tyler Consolidated will have a week off to savor its first win of the season.
| 
