LITTLE CYPRESS — What a statement that the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Battlin’ Bears made Friday night at Battlin’ Bear Stadium.

Hardly anyone gave the Bears a fighting chance against the Coldspring Trojans, ranked No. 6 in Class 3A after they defeated No. 1-ranked LaMarque last week.

Well, the Bears believed and that’s all that mattered as they stunned the Trojans 35-20.

LC-M coach Randy Crouch was proud that his team rose to the challenge.

“They played all 48 minutes,” said Crouch. “We had some mistakes early, but did a great job getting it together. The defense did a great job stopping the run against an explosive offense and the offense was able to control the clock when they needed to. This was a great win for us, but everybody is 0-0 next week.” 

For the Bears (1-2) Alex Sezer was a workhorse in the backfield rushing for 109 yards on 21 carries and picked up three touchdowns along the way. Caleb Harley completed some key passes that kept several drives alive. He threw for 132 yards and had a touchdown on the night. Sure-handed Casey Viator was his favorite target picking up 76 yards on five receptions, one of which was for six points.

The Coldspring Trojans (2-2) were lead by Trey Cooper. Cooper had 21 carries for 195 yards. Alfred Scott lead from under center throwing to 106 yard and one touchdown. Eighty of those yards came in one lump as Jamal Bass slipped passed the secondary on his lone catch.

The Bears showed early that they would not be intimidated by the Trojans state ranking. Kicker Trent Manuel would open the game up with a touchback to give the Trojans a long field to start the game. After the Bears special teams started strong the defense would emphatically follow suit forcing a three and out on the Trojan’s opening drive.

The offense would take over a short field lacking 44 yards for a touchdown. Six plays, including a 28-yard run by Sezer, were needed to set up the first scoring play of the game. Harley would roll out of the pocket on play action to find Viator open in the flat. After the reception Viator would tote it in for an 11-yard touchdown pass. Manuel would add the point-after to give the Bears the early 7-0 lead with 6:47 on the clock in the first quarter.

The Trojan offense would move deep into LCM territory on the ensuing drive. They ran 10 plays on their way to down to the LC-M 18. On a fourth-and-one, Scott would run a quarterback keeper. The Bear’s Trent Manuel would track him down in the backfield to force the turnover on downs.

The momentum would not stay with the Bears for long. The Trojans defense would quickly force a three and out to set up their first scoring drive.

As the Trojan offense took the field they needed to travel only 45 yards to get onto the scoreboard. On the first play of the drive Cooper would dance his way through the defensive line and carry the ball 44 yards only to be forced out of bounds on the Bear 1. The following play  Douglas Johnson would somersault over the defense for a one-yard touchdown carry. However the point-after would be wide right and the Bears would continue to lead 7-6 with one minute left in the first.

The Trojans would not let up as after only two plays they recovered a fumble and forced the Bear offense off the field yet again.

It almost looked certain that the Trojans would find the end zone after they inherited field position that was only 18 yards short of the goal line. It was not so easy though as the Bear defense forced them to a fourth-and-nine situation. The fourth down attempt looked to be a bust as Scott rolled out of the pocket but he was able to hit receiver Casey Lilley in the corner of the end zone despite tight coverage. The Trojans would then run it in for the two-point conversion to extend their lead to 14-7 with 11:04 remaining in the second quarter.

After both teams make a solid defensive stand the L-CM offense would take the field at the 50. They would chip away at the field position using nine plays and eventually capped the drive off with a seven-yard Sezer carry. Manuel would again add the point after evening the score at 14 with 3:30 in the half.

The offenses would explode in the second half. LC-M would need three plays to break the tie as Sezer finds the end zone yet again on a 38-yard touchdown run. Manuel would be successful again as the scoreboard read 21-14 with 10:28 left in the third quarter.

The Trojans would answer right back. Scott would find Jamal Bass all alone behind the coverage for an 80 yard TD pass. The two-point conversion would fail as the Bears continued to lead 21-20 with 8:24 left in the third quarter.

The Bears defense would lock down the Trojans for the rest of the night. The Bears would add two more touchdowns coming from a three-yard Sezer run and a nine-yard run from Brandon Toliver. Tolivers run would be the decisive blow that put the game out of reach as he powered through three defenders, refusing to be denied the end zone.

The Bears will open district 20-4A play next week as they travel to Livingston to face the Lions.



LC-M 35

Coldspring 20





LC-M     7     7     7   14 — 35

CS         6     8     6     0 — 20



Scoring summary



LCM - Harley 11 yard pass to Viator, Manual kick (6:47 1Q)

CS - Shepherd one yard run, PAT missed (1:02 1Q)

CS - Scott 17 yard pass to Lilley, two point conversion successful (11:04 2Q)

LCM - Sezar 7 yard run, Manuel kick (3:30 2Q)

LCM - Sezar 38 yard run, Manuel kick (10:28 3Q)

CS - Scott 80 yard pass to Bass, Conversion Failed (8:24 3Q)

LCM - Sezar 3 yard run, Manuel kick (5:49 3Q)

LCM - Toliver 9 yard run, Manuel kick (1:11 4Q)



———

                         LC-M           CS

First downs         17              13

Rushes-yards   38-140      42-248

Passing              132            106

Comp-Att-Int    9-16-1        3-9-0

Fumbles-Lost     0-0             0-0

Penalties-yards 3-15           6-55



INDIVIDUAL STATS

Rushing: LC-M, Alex Sezer 21-109, Brandon Toliver 9-47, Trent Manuel 1-11, Brandon Morgan 1-0, Dalton Doyle 1- (-3), Caleb Harley 5-(-25) Coldspring, Trey Cooper 21-195, Patrick Giddens 12-45, Douglas Johnson 6-14, Alfred Scott 3-(-6)

Passing: LC-M, Caleb Harley 9-16-1 132, Coldspring Alfred Scott 3-9-0 106

Recieving: LC-M Casey Viator 5-76, Dalton Doyle 2-29, Billy Jones 2-27, Coldspring, Jamel Bass 1-80, Casey Lilley 1-17, Trey Cooper 1-9.