PURVIS – Moses Cummings was in a state of disbelief.
The Purvis running back ran all over Lumberton as Cummings accounted for 200 yards and four touchdowns in the Tornadoes' 27-12 victory over the Panthers.
Cummings had never scored four times in a game before, and he admittedly didn't expect to achieve such an accomplishment.
"I still can't believe it," Cummings said. "I just wanted to win. I didn't think it would be four touchdowns.
"All year, this game we have been working for. We knew what we had to do. We knew it was going to be hard. We knew it was going to be a mental game. We knew we could win, but it was going to be mental."
But Cummings' night, much less Purvis' win, was anything but easy.
The first half of the game was a defensive battle. Each team's first three drives came up short. Lumberton had a chance to score in the first quarter, but the Panthers went from having a 20-yard completion inside Purvis' 10-yard line to fumbling the ball away for a touchback.
"We couldn't ever get into a rhythm," Purvis coach Brad Hankins said. "We kind of got behind the sticks a couple of times and had some miscues. That's the stuff you have to fix."
As for Purvis, the Tornadoes turned the ball over twice on fourth down, with the most frustrating happening on fourth and goal.
But then, Cummings broke the stalemate with just over two minutes to go in the first half as short field position set up a 3-yard touchdown run. It was after that score that Cummings said he found his momentum, although the junior running back finished the first half with 110 rushing yards.
"It was after the first touchdown (things came together)," Cummings said. "We knew for sure we could move the ball on them as a team. We knew we could get better."
In the third quarter, Cummings capped off Purvis' 7-play, 61-yard opening drive with a 15-yard touchdown run.
On Lumberton's ensuing drive, a bad between by Lumberton quarterback Chase Toney allowed for Purvis' Tytus Bridges to recover the fumble. On the next play, Cummings broke away for a 29-yard touchdown run and extended the Tornadoes' lead to 21-0 midway through the third quarter.
"He's a special kid," said Lumberton coach Jonathan Ladner when describing Cummings' night. "Anytime that you have a running back that you can ride that doesn't go down on the first contact or second contact, and it takes three or four guys to get him down, those takes three or four guys to get him down, those four or five yards runs in the first quarter turn into 20 and 30-yard runs.”
However, in the shade of remanence to last year’s game that saw Lumberton storm a late comeback, the Panthers responded with a pair of touchdowns.
A 40-yard completion by Toney, as well as multiple penalties called on Purvis, set up a 3-yard touchdown run for the quarterback.
By the end of the third quarter, both teams were flagged for multiple unsportsmanlike penalties, prompting the officiating crew to briefly stop the game and urge coaches to settle their respective teams.
“I thought on my end, we kind of lost our cookies a little bit,” Hankins said. “We have to be able to control ourselves when situations go against us. I don’t think we handled it real well, and that’s something we have to fix.”
Penalties helped give Lumberton a short field position and set up Toney to connect with Lathan Bowens for a 7-yard touchdown to narrow the score to 21-12.
“(I thought) this ain’t going to happen again,” said Hankins on Lumberton potentially having another comeback. “We settled down and calmed down a little bit and got after it in the fourth quarter.”
And like last year’s game, Cummings again emerged as the hero to seal the game for Purvis in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. The Tornadoes faced third and goal on the 11-yard line with Cummings just moments being hit behind the line of scrimmage, and yet the game’s hero promptly responded by breaking a pair of tackles and scoring on the next play.
“I knew we had to score,” Cummings said. “I knew that if we scored, we had a good chance of putting the game away.”
Toney finished the game 14-for-21 and threw for 132 yards and a touchdown while also rushing in a score, but Lumberton’s offensive put just 56 rushing yards on the night.
“We made some mistakes and made some plays in the third quarter in the passing game,” Ladner said. “We have a good quarterback and a good crew of receivers. We have to get out of our own way, though. We made a lot of self-inflicted mistakes tonight. When we are (playing well), we can put up some points in a hurry. We popped two quick ones and got it to 21-12. We had a chance. It came down to the fact that they made the plays, and we didn’t.”
The Purvis offense put up 308 yards, with Cummings accounting for 206 yards on 28 carries.
“The offensive line did a great job,” Hankins said. “Moses is Moses. He’s pretty special. We are glad we got him for sure.”
Purvis will go on the road to face Pass Christian next week, while Lumberton will host North Forrest.
