The Grandview Zebras (1-1) ran into a locomotive of a team Friday night.
The Lorena Leopards (2-0) used their high-powered offense and some timely defense to hold off Grandview at Zebra Stadium.
Head coach Aubrey Sims said he knew playing Lorena would be a tough matchup for the Zebras, but mentioned he was more disappointed at some of the undisciplined play.
“We were awful in some places,” he said. “We self-destructed with busted assignments, poor tackling. We can’t do that kind of stuff and expect to win, especially against a team like that.”
The opening quarter, however, boded well for the Zebras.
They took their opening drive and moved the ball well. On the ninth play of the drive, Brant Rice caught a terrifically placed Derek Jarrell pass for the opening score.
The Zebras went for two, but the pass failed.
Grandview was able to hold the Leopards on their first possession of the night behind some nice defensive plays.
After the next Zebra drive sputtered, Lorena took over at its own 43. On the first play of the series, quarterback Fisher Simpson’s pass was picked off by Prescott Holloway, and returned 43 yards for the score. After missing the two- point conversion again, the Zebras led by 12.
Then came the second quarter.
Just over two minutes into the second frame, Lorena’s Bradly Krall took the Zebra punt and returned it all the way down to the Zebra 15. The Zebras held strong on defense, but on third-and-goal from the 10, the Zebras were called for pass interference and Lorena had a fresh set of downs. Three plays later, Simpson scored from a yard out to get the Leopards on the board.
From that point on, it seemed the Zebras couldn’t do anything right.
The Leopards scored on their next possession, a four play drive which started from the Grandview 38. Simpson again scored, this time from five yards out. The two-point conversion was good, and Lorena led by two.
Grandview answered back. On the first play from scrimmage, Daniel Spencer broke loose down the sideline and scampered 62 yards for the score to briefly give the Zebras the lead at 19-15.
It was short lived as the Leopards took advantage of a couple of Zebra penalties and were able to move the ball inside the Zebra 10 yard line. Chandler Snodgrass scored from two yards out and the Lorena offense was firing on all cylinders.
Following another Zebra punt, the Leopards took over at their own 32. In a play reminiscent of Spencer’s run, Simpson broke loose down the sideline and ran 68 yards for the score to cap the Lorena scoring at 29 for the quarter.
Lorena took the opening possession and used only four plays from their own 47 to score. Snodgrass again scored, this time from four yards out.
Grandview was able to answer back midway through the third quarter as Beau Blakeney made a run through the defense and scored from 36 yards out.
Snodgrass scored another touchdown late in the third quarter to extend the lead to 43-26.
Daniel Spencer answered with a 60-yard run, but it was called back on a penalty. Later, Spencer did score in the last minute of the game, running it in from two yards out.
The Zebras travel to play Chilton at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
Sports
Zebras fall at home to Lorena
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