Florala Wildcats come up short against Elba

Published 11:02 pm Friday, September 20, 2019

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The Florala High School Wildcats (2-3,) fought hard but ended up losing to the Elba High School Tigers Friday night, 61-34.

Elba got on the board first scoring two touchdowns to go up 15-0.

The Wildcats answered with a touchdown, but the Tigers were able to hold them at six points going into halftime 31-6.

Florala got things rolling in the second half when Logan West connected with Austin Howell to convert on fourth down and get to the opposing 2-yard line.

With 6:30 left in the third quarter, West pounded the ball into the end zone from two yards out to cut the Tiger lead 31-14 after a successful two-point conversion.

The Wildcats kept the momentum going as Rashaad Coleman took a punt return 73 yards to the end zone to make it 31-20.

A shanked punt gave the Wildcats great field position on the opposing 26-yard line with 3:45 to go.

West connected with Howell again on the 1-yard line and Vinson Flowers took it to the end zone to cut the lead to 31-26.

The Tigers didn’t take long to cut the momentum after a 99-yard kick off return and successful two-point conversion increases their score to 39-26.

On the first play of the next drive, the Wildcats threw an interception that the Tigers ran back for a pick-six, making the score 45-26 after a failed two-point conversion.

Elba decided to go for it on fourth down with 11:06 remaining in the game and ran it straight through the Wildcat defense to increase their lead 53-26.

They ended their scoring drive with a 15-yard rush and a two-point conversion making it 61-26.

Florala kept pushing and managed to score another touchdown when West connected with Flowers for a 12-yard touchdown. West connected with Justin Ward on the two-point conversion to make it 61-34.

“I think the positive is that we played with a state championship team toe to toe at times,” head coach Toby Greene said. “You’re never as bad as you look in wins and you never look as bad as you look in loses. I think our kids gave some good effort. We have just got to tackle a lot better. There are definitely brighter days ahead.”

The Wildcats travel to Houston Academy next Friday night.