(September 26, 2019) MAGNET COVE – The Mount Ida Lions played a great first half last Friday at Panther Stadium only to see Magnet Cove ride a big third quarter rally to a 55-26 victory over Mount Ida.
Mount Ida exited the first half down by eight with Magnet Cove leading 21-14.
The clock moved quickly in the first half with both teams focusing on their ground game. Magnet Cove opened the game on their own 38 yard line and marched 62 yards in eight plays to score on a 10 yard run by Tyler Hodges with 8:43 left in the first quarter. Alex Ordonez hit the PAT to give Magnet Cove a seven point lead.
Mount Ida opened their first drive with a lot of passion, moving the ball from their own 19 to midfield before a fumbled pitch forced them to punt the ball away on a fourth and 18 from their own 34.
Magnet Cove only needed four plays to score their second time around. Landon Stone took the ball in from eight yards out to give the Panthers a 14 point lead with 1:27 left in the first quarter.
The Lions mixed things up in their next drive with five different players getting at least one carry. They marched 65 yards in 12 places to score on a one yard run by Hunter Davis. The two point conversion failed and Magnet Cove clung to a 14-6 lead with 7:41 left in the first half.
Magnet Cove responded with a 19 yard touchdown reception to Jaryd McJunkins with 5:01 one left in the half.
Undaunted, the Lions marched 60 yards in seven plays to score on a 35 yard run by AJ Perez. John Hoeksema scored on the two point conversion to pull Mount Ida to within seven points of Magnet Cove with 2:05 left in the half.
Mount Ida forced a turnover on a punt, but ran out of time before they could mount another scoring drive.
Mount Ida seemed to be snake bit in the opening moments of the second half with Panthers rattling off 14 unanswered points to give themselves a 34-14 lead with 7:59 left in the third quarter. The first score came on a 26 yard run by Stone and the second came on another run by Hodges, this one on a 43 yard run.
Mount Ida looked as if they may have righted the ship with a two play 62 yard drive that culminated in a 60 yard touchdown pass from Austin Cooper to John Hoeksema with 7:11 left in the third quarter.
Magnet Cove scored the next 21 points to put the game out of reach for the Lions. Stone scored on a 39 yard run, followed by Hodges on a 62 yard run. Hodges capped the Panther scoring effort with a 56 yard run for a score. Ordonez connected on all three PATs.
Mount Ida’s final score was set up by a fumble recovered by Landen Scrimshire deep in Panther territory on the 28 yard line. Three plays later Hunter Davis carried the ball in from 19 yards out for the final touchdown of the night.
Mount Ida had 202 yards rushing on 47 plays, scoring three touchdowns on the ground.
They went 1-3 as a team for 60 yards in the air with one score for a total of 262 total yards of offense.
They gave up 439 yards of offense to the Panthers, most of which came in the second half.
Baylor Bates led the Lions with six tackles, followed by Hunter Davis with four tackles, Blake Collum and #26 with two tackles each. Merlin Vander Weyer, AJ Perez and Seth Breashears each had a tackle.
Mount Ida drops to 0-3 on the season and opens the conference schedule on the road this Friday at Mineral Springs. Kick off is set for 7 p.m.
Article Written by Dewayne Holloway
