Fumbles deadly for Pioneers in opener

By ROB NUNLEY / Sports Editor for the Southern Standard

Running back Jimmy Cunningham looks for a clearing during the first half. Cunningham suffered a bruised knee during Saturday’s game, but is expected to be in action this week. (Dale Stubblefield photo)

A bad snap to Centennial’s punter Saturday night allowed the Pioneer football team to start its first offensive possession of the season deep in Cougar territory.

But just three plays later, WCHS fumbled the ball right back to the Cougars — ending what looked to be a great chance to put some early points on the board, and beginning an upsetting trend of giveaways that CHS capitalized upon throughout the contest.

“It killed us in the second quarter,” coach Gerald Tidwell said of his team’s giveaways. “With six-and-a-half minutes to go in the first half, we’re down 7-0. Then we go into halftime down 28-0 because of turnovers. So our inability to hang onto the ball is what got us out of the ballgame in the first half.”

Warren County fumbled the ball five times in the first half against Centennial, losing possession four times. Three of those fumbles led to Cougar touchdowns.

With the score tied at 0-0 late in the first quarter, the Cougars’ Caesar Cisneros recovered a fumble on a reverse attempt, setting up Centennial’s first TD. A bad exchange on WCHS’s next possession gave the ball back to CHS near midfield, and the Cougars drove 42 yards to take a 14-0 lead.

After scoring with 45 seconds left in the half, Centennial kicked the ball off to the Pioneers, who fumbled on the first play from scrimmage. That final turnover set up a 19-yard TD pass that sent the Cougars into halftime with a comfortable 28-0 edge.

Tidwell noted there were several reasons behind the Pioneers’ inability to hang onto the football, most notably bad exchanges in the backfield and poor blocking by the offensive line.

“One of the fumbles was on an option read, and the quarterback and fullback just dropped it,” he said. “That’s a chance you take with option football.

“One was on a reverse, and it hit the tailback right in the hands — he just dropped it. The rest of them were pretty much due to our being rushed because of their blitzing.”

Tidwell said he and his staff are making strides to correct the mistakes, both up front and in the backfield, that led to last weekend’s turnover problems before the team hits the road this Friday night for its game against Shelbyville.