ADEL —
The Cook Hornets ran for 235 yards, Ross Pickle rushed for two scores, and the Hornets defense suffocated Thomasville in a 17-3 victory over the Bulldogs at Cook Memorial Stadium on Friday night in the Region 1-AA opener for both teams.
Cook’s defense picked off the Thomasville quarterback and limited the Bulldogs to seven total first downs, three of them on the final drive in a two possession game. The Hornets varsity defense has only allowed nine points all season.
“That’s the thing that you have to have, your defense,” said Hornets’ Ken Cofer. “If the defense is ahead of the offense right now, that’s fine with me. We going hit our stride, and find out what we can do because we are seeing different things every week. We are fixing to hit a Fitzgerald team that is going show us something different next week. We are going have to play defense like we usually do.”
Cook came out with a pooch onside kick on the opening kickoff in an attempt to jump-start an offense that has started slowly in games this year. After six quick plays, the Hornets were up 3-0 on a 27-yard field goal.
After the field goal on Cook’s opening possession, Thomasville tightened up its defense and made for a defensive slugfest in the first half. The two teams combined for six first downs in the half, as a combination of fantastic defensive play, and missed offensive opportunities limited the scoring for both teams.
Pickle just over threw Zak Williams on a third down deep down the left sideline in the second quarter. Pickle and Williams missed on another big play opportunity 30 seconds before the half as Williams dropped a deep pass from Pickle at the 15 yard line.
Thomasville was able to tie the score up with about a minute to go in the half, using a 30-yard run to get into field goal range
Cook got the ball on their 30-yard line to begin the second half.
Despite gaining only 89 total yards in the first half, the Hornets were able to march the ball 70 yards on the first drive of the second half to take a 10-3 lead. A fantastic 34-yard run by KJ Edwards highlighted the drive as the talented back took a sweep to the right, cut back and reversed field to pick up a first down, plus much more.
A huge difference in the Hornets’ game tonight came in the penalty category. The Hornets averaged over ten penalties a game through the first three games of the season and was a huge concern for Cofer heading into the bye. Friday, however, Cook was only flagged five times.
“We tried to coach these kids up the best we can,” said Cofer. “We were pretty good (with penalties) two years ago and now I think we are hitting our stride. We are getting a little bit better, especially against a physical team like this. You are going get some holding calls, and we didn’t have that.”
The Hornets capped the scoring with Pickle’s second touchdown of the night.
Cook will take to the road to take on region rival Fitzgerald next week.
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Related Photos
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Cook defenders Spencer Joiner (11), Collies Mathis (15) and Davontae Joiner (26) tackle a Thomasville player on Friday in Adel. Cook beat Thomasville, 17-3. Teresa Emrich | Special to the Times
Discussion
Cook Hornets beat Thomasville, 17-3
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