MONTICELLO — Lawrence County’s defense has been making plays when it mattered all season, and they made two big ones on Friday night.
Tywan McLaurin stripped Sumrall quarterback Dannis Jackson, and he took it 83 yards for a touchdown with 4:42 left in the game to give his team the lead. Then, Cougar linebacker Perez Tyler sealed the game by intercepting a Jackson pass late in the game, holding off Sumrall 28-21 in a critical Region 7-4A matchup on homecoming.
“Our defense has been coming up big for us all year and they did again tonight against a good team,” said Lawrence County coach Jesse Anderson. “Our offense sputtered around tonight and that can’t happen against good teams. Glad we came out of here with a win. It could’ve gone either way.”
It started out as if the game was going to be a shootout as Sumrall struck first on a 19-yard touchdown pass from Jackson to Matthew Cronin to give Sumrall a 7-0 lead with 8:39 left in the first quarter. Lawrence County quickly answered on a 33-yard run by Kylan Cooper with 7:50 left in the first quarter to tie the game at 7. Sumrall responded as Jackson scored on a 10-yard run to give the Bobcats a 14-7 lead with two seconds left in first quarter.
Lawrence County (6-2, 2-0 Region 7-4A) scored two touchdowns in the second quarter to take a 21-14 lead at halftime.
Haden Mullins hit Brian Bogan on a 5-yard touchdown pass and Antwan Pittman had a 78-yard touchdown run.
Sumrall tied the game at 21 on the first play of the fourth quarter off a 1-yard touchdown run by Gabe Cocroft.
Pittman had 129 yards on 12 carries to lead the Lawrence County rushing attack that rushed for 248 yards total.
“This is a drastic change from last year and we are getting better every week,” Anderson said. “We have to continue to get better and we have a tough next week so we better be ready.”
Dannis Jackson went 10-for-18 passing for 110 yards, a touchdown and an interception. He also rushed for 170 yards on 24 carries with a touchdown.
“Can’t turn the ball over in order to beat good teams. Bottom line,” Sumrall coach Shannon White said. “We’ve got a good team and they have a good team and this game came down to the wire of who had the ball last. We have to move on and learn from this one.”
