Chris Walsh
ADEL — On a cold night in Adel on Friday, two teams that have battled for nearly a century turned in another good game, but someone had to lose. After three hard-fought quarters, the Cook County Hornets (4-5, 4-3) fell to the Fitzgerald Purple Hurricanes (9-0, 7-0) 35-21.
The Hornets led after three quarters, but a late 21-point surge in the fourth quarter put Fitzgerald over the top. Cook’s 21 points were the most allowed by the Purple Hurricanes all season.
“We played well enough to win tonight, it was a very clean and hard-fought game,” said Cook head coach George Dean after the game. “I think Fitzgerald is a class act and a classy team.”
Cook jumped on the board first with 5:53 left to go in the first quarter. Junior running back Randy Merritt scampered in from 24 yards out for the touchdown. It was the first, first quarter touchdown allowed by the Hurricanes all season. The extra point missed, and Cook held a 6-0 lead.
Fitzgerald had trouble early, but found the end zone with 1:34 left to go in the first. Full back Nick Williams scored his first touchdown of the evening from six yards out after the Hurricanes were awarded great field position. The extra point went through, and Cook was down 7-6.
The Cook quarterback dealt with pressure all night, but still managed to have one of his best games. In the shotgun for most of the game, Goff picked up low snap after low snap and still managed to only be sacked twice while making plays with both his feet and arm.
With 25 seconds left in the first half, Goff threw a perfect quick slant pass to a diving Josh Chester for the touchdown. Goff then connected with Merritt for the two-point conversion, and the Hornets took a 14-7 lead into the half.
“Ty (Goff) played well tonight, he’s a real competitive player,” said Dean.
In the second half, the Hurricanes jumped on the back of their fullback and never looked back. Williams ran up 157 yards and three touchdowns to help Fitzgerald fight back and take the lead for good.
Goff kept the Hornets in the game with another touchdown pass, a 15-yarder to Justin Inman with 52 seconds left in the third. But two costly interceptions by Hurricane cornerback P.J. Pruitt killed two Cook drives late in the game.
After Cook took the lead on that Goff pass, it was all Fitzgerald. The 21-point run started on a 27-yard touchdown pass from Juwan Alexander to Pruitt at the start of the fourth quarter. Williams then ran in two scores to take the lead and seal the deal.
The first touchdown run by Williams came after Fitzgerald caught a break on special teams for the second week in a row. Goff lined up to punt, watched the snap go far over his head, then tried to run it down.
He got to it, kicked it 10 yards, and the ball bounced off a Hurricane player. Cook thought they had the ball, but Fitzgerald took over possession and on the next play Williams ran in for the score.
“Some of the mistakes we made were just uncharacteristic for us,” said Dean.
With the win, the Purple Hurricanes won the region championship in their first season back in 1-AA. Cook now sits in fourth place tied with Brooks. The positive thing is that Cook owns the tie-breaker after defeating the Trojans this season.
“After the past three or four weeks, I think we can play with anybody,” said Dean. “I think winning or losing this game tonight would have given us momentum into the post-season.”
For Cook, Goff was 17-for-34 with 184 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. He completed passes to seven different receivers and had 15 yards rushing on 15 carries. Merritt had 41 yards and one touchdown on four carries.
Maurice Thomas had nine tackles and one fumble recovery. Kenny Tippins had two forced fumbles and four tackles.
For Fitzgerald, Williams had 30 carries for 247 yards and four touchdowns. Pruitt had one touchdown reception and two interceptions on defense.
Next week, the Hornets go on the road to face Mitchell-Baker for a chance to make it into the postseason.
