By Ronnie Hughes

Leader Correspodent

HUFFMAN — The Little Cypress – Mauriceville Bears entered Friday night’s road contest against the Huffman Falcons in search of their first District 10-4A Division I win.

In what was seemingly a must-win game for the Bears they heeded the importance with a stellar showing on both sides of the ball as they grounded the Falcons, 41-26.

The very team that kept the Bears (3-5, 12)- from postseason action in 2015 was unable to move the ball offensively early and had little-to-no answer for the down hill running style of Chris Winters who pummeled Huffman (4-4, 1-2) defenders for 160 yards and two touchdowns.

The Bears offense have been plagued by turnovers over the past several weeks, but showed Friday night what kind of team they really are when eliminating those miscues. The offense didn’t give away the ball one time and the scoreboard reflected the difference a week’s worth of hard work the Bears put in.

LC-M won the toss and elected to kick the ball to Huffman on the opening kickoff. Huffman jumped out with back-to-back positive plays resulting in two quick first downs. The LC-M defense, however, took advantage of the first Huffman miscue when quarterback Dylan Lorfing, under threw his receiver. Trey Guillory, the Bears speedy cornerback, snagged the under thrown ball and returned it 52 yards for a Bear touchdown and an early lead, 7-0.

A rattled Falcons offense returned to the field with no time to catch their breath. The Bear defense was swarming and kept with their relentless pursuit forcing a quick three-and-out to give the Bear offense their first possession of the night.

Chris Winters opened the Bear drive with an explosive 15-yard run while dragging defenders with him. The offense faced a quick fourth-and-12 following the Winters run, but answered with a 13- yard pass from Beau Bickham to Katon Brown to keep the drive alive. The Bears churned the ball down to the Falcon 1 setting up what should have been an easy score on first-and-goal. However, a false start pushed the Bears back on first down and then a four-yard loss by J’Lon Douglas set the Bears back even more. Things were not working in the Bears favor on the drive as two touchdown passes would be called back due to ineligible receivers down field. The Bears eventually turned the ball over on downs after failing to convert a long, fourth-and-27. The Bears 11-play, 68-yard drive was marred by 25 yards in penalties. The Bears held tight to a 7-0 lead at the end of one quarter.

Huffman again found little room to work against the Bear defensive unit and were forced to punt the ball away. Despite very little rest between possessions, Winters, rumbled through the middle and then toed the sidelines for a 37-yard score putting the Bears up 13-0 following the missed extra point.

The Falcon offense finally found some room to run and put together a solid drive. Cameron McMahon ripped off several big runs that eventually led to the first Falcon score of the night. Lorfing capped the drive off with a seven-yard screen pass to McMahon to inch the Falcons closer, 13-6 with 8:06 remaining in the half. McMahon was solid all night rolling for 117 yards and three touchdowns on 22 carries.

LC-M added one more score before the end of the half. They converted three fourth downs to extend their drive with receiver Brown, making some big-time grabs. Beau Bickham finished off the drive with a seven- yard touchdown pass to Adam Pope with Winters notching the two-point conversion for a 21-6 lead at halftime. Bickham was key in the Bears win completeing 11-of-19 passes for 160 yards and two scores while Brown hauled in five receptions for 74 yards.

The two squads opened the second half with less than spectacular showings while exchanging a pair of punts. The Bears offense struck first in the second half after finally gaining some positive yards. Following a pair of big Winter’s runs, the Bears again showed off their aerial attack. This time Bickham found the speedy Guillory for a 35-yard strike across the middle as the Bears extended their lead to 27-6 before the Falcons attempted a short rally.

Two stellar defensive and offensive possessions had Falcon fans hoping for a come from behind victory. McMahon and the Falcon offense scored two quick touchdowns and picked up a two-point conversion to pull the game within one score, 27-20.

The Bear offense sputtered again giving the Falcons a shot to tie the game. The Falcons took over at the Bear 37, but with plenty of clock left they went for the home-run pass each down and handed the ball right back to the Bears.

LC-M snagged two rushing touchdowns within the next two minutes of play to put the game out of reach with just 1:04 left on the clock. Winters slashed the Falcons defense for an 11-yard touchdown while Alex Reed skipped in for a 12-yarder. Huffman trailed 41-20, with under a minute to play. They’ had one last effort and Noah Thomas hauled in a 23-yard touchdown pass from Lorfing to end the game just a few scores short while handing the Bears their first district win of 2016.

The Bears garner 330 yards of offense and will look to that kind of effort next week as they host Cleveland before finishing off the regular season on a long trip to Navasota on November 4.

LC-M 41,

Huffman 26

 

LC-M 7 14 6 13 41

HUFF 0 6 14 6 26

 

 

Scoring Summary

 

LC-M 1^st 9:09 – Guillory 52 yd interception xp good

LC-M 2^nd 10:48 – Winters 37 yd run xp no good

Huff 2^nd 8:06 – McMahon 7 yd catch from Lorfing. Xp no good

LC-M 2^nd 3:24 – Pope 7 yd catch from Bickham. 2Pt conv. Good Winters.

LC-M 3^rd 7:42 – Guillory 35 yd catch from Bickham. Xp no good

Huff 3^rd 3:42 – McMahon 4 yd run. Xp no good

Huff 3^rd :53 – McMahon 1 yd run. 2Pt conv. Good Lorfing

LC-M 4^th 3:38 – Winters 11 yd run xp good

LC-M 4^th 1:04 – Reed 12 yd run 41-20

Huff 4^th :27 – Noah 23 yd catch from Lorfing xp no good

 

 

LC-M Huffman

 

First downs 16      11

Rushes-yards 35-170   34 – 135

Passing 160    140

Comp-Att-Int 11-19-0      14-31-1

Fumbles-Lost 0   1-1

Penalties-yards 8-60    1-10

 

Individual Statistics

 

Rushing LC-M – Winters 22-160, Douglas 6-3, Guillory 2-8, Bickham 4 neg.13, Reed 1-12

Huffman – McMahan 22-117, Lorfing 10-13, Gray 2-16

 

Passing LCM – Bickham 11-19-160-2tds

Huffman – Lorfing 14-31-140 2td 1int

 

Receiving LCM – Brown 5-74, Guillory 3-50, Sonnier 1-17, Pope 1-7

Huffman – Thomas 6-111, McMahon 3-11, Ross 2-1, Rice 3-21