Although they suffered just their second district loss of the season last week, the Durant Lions face a virtual mustwin situation to keep their playoff hopes alive this week with a Senior Night Halloween showdown with red-hot McAlester.
The Lions dropped a 23-7 decision to league-leading Coweta last week despite getting the football trailing by only a touchdown with 4:38 remaining. McAlester has jumped right back into the 5A-3 race with four straight wins, including a 29-15 surprise of Booker T Washington this past week.
Durant came out strong against the Top 10 ranked Tigers last week, milking more than nine minutes off the clock on the opening possession before having to punt. Holdan Robinson got the ball right back for the Lions when he picked off a pass on Coweta’s opening play.
A 34-yard bolt by Stephen Manhard kick started the Durant offense and he scored two plays later on an eight-yard run to help put the Lions in front 7-0 following a dominant first frame.
Coweta had the answer moments later with a 67-yard drive to answer. A DHS offsides penalty on fourth down kept the march alive and the Tigers found the end zone with a culminating six-yard burst on the 11-play march.
The Tigers had two chances in the final four minutes of the half to take the lead to the locker room but missed 33and 26-yard field goal attempts by Landon Stephens.
On the first possession of the third period Coweta went on a methodical 14-play, 80yard drive that resulted in another short scoring run for the lead. One play earlier the Lions had a chance to get off the field but were victimized by a 17-yard pass on fourth-and-five.
Durant appeared headed for a tying touchdown with another lengthy march that started at its own 30 late in the third stanza. After 16 plays however the drive stalled on downs at the Tiger 30.
The Lion defense regained possession deep in its own end when two sacks pushed the offense back and a punt was blocked out of the end zone with 2:29 left for a 16-7 Coweta advantage. Two runs after the free kick the Tigers found paydirt again to finish off a nine-point flurry in just 16 seconds of game time.
Coweta wrapped up with a 313-188 edge in total yardage as Manhard tallied 60 yards on 12 rushing attempts to lead the Lions. Cole Robbins completed 15 of 22 passes for 76 yards with Robinson snagging five of those.
Facing McAlester this week, the Lions will have to try and slow a balanced Buffalo offense that has a pair of sophomore quarterbacks in Jaxon McKinney and Brody Parker that have combined to throw for 1,164 yards and 11 touchdowns. Senior Jordan Clark has rushed for 770 yards and eight touchdowns with four games over the 100-yard plateau.
