By Caleb Adams

Leader Correspondent

LITTLE CYPRESS — The Navasota Rattlers toppled the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Battlin’ Bears 40-30 in a thrilling game at Battlin’ Bear Stadium between two playoff-bound squads out of District 10-4A Division I.

The win gives the Rattlers (6-4, 4-1) a co-district championship with the Silsbee Tigers (5-4, 4-1), who defeated Cleveland 49-21 Friday. Silsbee will represent 10-4A as the top playoff seed due to beating Navasota head to head.

The loss by the Bears means LC-M (4-4, 3-2) will get the third-place playoff seed going into the playoffs. The Bears will face 9-4A runnerup Kilgore in the playoffs next week while Navasota will face Henderson.

A win Friday by the Bears would have giving LC-M their first district title since 1994 and the Bears certainly put up a fight for it Friday.

The Bears found themselves down 33-14 at one point before rallying all the way back to within 33-30 with 10:43 remaining.

LC-M actually outgained the Rattlers 436-332 on the night.

Bear sophomore quarterback Ethan McCollum completed 14-of-24 passes for 185 yards and ran for 63 more on 15 carries. J’Lon Douglas had 103 yards on 11 carries and Chris Winters had 67 yards on nine carries while Ty”reke Brown had three catches for 64 yards.

Thomas Robinson was the key for the Rattlers, rushing for 93 yards on the night and a couple of touchdowns on 21 carries.

Navasota quarterback Jeb Melek completed 13-of-21 passes for 151 yards and three touchdowns and was picked off twice.

The Rattlers entered the game, under the thunderous sound of the cow bells from the LC-M crowd, in hopes to take down the Bears as the LC-M fan base was loud throughout.

The Rattlers came out quick and scored the first points of the game with a fullback touchdown by Tyrek Houston from two yards outas Navasota was up 7-0 early in the first quarter.

The Bears struck back with a run-dominant drive from McCollum and Winters. Winters would break loose, scoring from 20 yards out Douglas ran in the two-point conversion to make it 8-7 Bears with 7:26 in the first quarter left.

Navasota would score on the next drive, this time the throw became an option for Rattlers’ quarterback Malek who threw two complete passes to set up a Thomas Robinson two-yard touchdown run. After the PAT was good the score was 14-8 Rattlers still in the first.

LC-M fiough back with another touchdown of their own. It was Winters again who pounded it in, this time from three yards out to tie the game at 14-14 after the two point-conversion didn’t go in.

The Rattlers score again, this time thanks to the air game. Malek hit a 12-yard pass to Ladadrien Walker to put Navasota on top early in the second quarter. After the PAT the Rattlers were up 21-14 in the second quarter.

Malek would find another touchdown in the air, this time to Quentavious Moore from 25 yards out. The Bears managed to block the PAT to make the score 27-14 with 3:10 in the half left to play.

After an LCM muffed kick off to start the half, the Rattlers had the ball on the Bearr 20. It took just two plays for Malek to find Micah Monk for a 12-yard touchdown pass, marking Malek’s third passing touchdown to make it 33-14 very early in the third quarter.

The Bears wouldn’t give up that quick as they found another touchdown, this time through the air as McCollum found Douglas for nine-yard completion for a score. McCollum would pass to Mark Netherly for a two-point conversion to trim it to 33-22 with 1:12 remaining in the third quarter.

The LCM Bears, after a interception turned fumble, score with a 45-yard pass from Mccollum to the very swift Brown. McCollum ran in the two-point conversion and the score was suddenly within three for the Bearsas they trailed 33-30 with 10:43 remaining as the Bear crowd was pumped up.

The Bears would bring the game within touching distance, but the Rattlers planned on keeping the lead for themselves. Robinson would punch in a touchdown to make it a 10- point game with just a few minutes on the clock left in the game.

 

Navasota 40,

LC-M 30

 

 

LCM                          NVA

First downs         24                             22

Rushes-yards     38-251                39-181

Passing                 185                   151

Comp-Att-Int     14-24-0               13-21-2

Fumbles-Lost       0-0                         2-2

Penalties-yards   5-35                     7-45

 

Individual Statistics

Rushing: LCM Ethan McCollum 15-63, Christopher Winters 9-67, Mark Netherly 1-10, Ty’Reke Brown 2-3, J’lon Douglas 11-108; NVA: Thomas Robinson 21-93, Tyreke Houston 1-2, Joseph Gifford 7-54

Passing: LCM Ethan Mccollum 14-24-0 185; NVA Jeb Melek 13-21-2 151

 

Receiving: LCM Katon Brown 3-27, Mark Netherly 3-32, Adam Pope 2-38, Christopher Winters 2-15, Ty’Reke Brown 3-64, J’lon Douglas 1-6; NVA Ke’Erik Moore 5-40, Ladadian Walker 3-21, Ronnie Jackson 2-46, Quentavious Brown 2-32, Micah Monk 1-12