MOUNTAIN PINE -- One of football's most fundamental plays proved Mountain Pine's undoing Friday night.
Two center snaps went through quarterback Collin Smith's hands in the fourth quarter, sabotaging two drives inside the 10, and letting Dierks escape with an 18-14 Class 2A nonconference victory at Stanley May Field.
Smith could not handle shotgun snaps on first and goal from the four early in the quarter and from the three in the final minute. Dierks took over on downs the first time and, with Mountain Pine out of timeouts, let the clock run out on the last play after the ball was snapped with 21.6 seconds left.
"We could be 'two and oh' real easy," said a frustrated Sam Counce, Mountain Pine's coach. Instead after losing two at home (the other, 40-32 to Mineral Springs), the Red Devils must regroup, Counce said, before going to Class 3A Centerpoint, which won at Stanley May Field in Week Three last year.
Mountain Pine's misfortune notwithstanding, Dierks' defense "dug deep," said coach Jarrod Fannin, "which they're going to have to do every week."
For the second-straight week, Mountain Pine never led on its home field. Smith ran one yard for the first Red Devil touchdown and 13 yards for the second, keeping for a two-point conversion that made it 18-14 with 5:17 left in the third quarter.
Dierks scored on back-to-back possessions for a two-score lead, junior Austin Hanson weaving through traffic for 51 yards and breaking a 6-6 tie with 1:44 before halftime. Receiving the second-half kickoff, the Outlaws drove 67 yards in six plays, Hanson getting the last 23 yards.
Only 5-8 and 160, Hanson made a key tackle after Smith fielded a Dierks punt cleanly on one bounce inside midfield, keeping Mountain Pine 52 yards from the end zone with 1:04 left. Dierks almost self-destructed defensively with three penalties, one for illegal participation (too many men on the field) and another for pass interference. An offside penalty came one play after Smith kept for seven yards to the six, setting up the fateful second errant snap.
Counce said the Red Devils have had no problems with the center-shotgun snap and that Smith, with a possible error of exuberance in looking over the defense, "might have taken his eyes off the center for just a second."
As against Mineral Springs, which scored 22 first-quarter points, Mountain Pine started sluggishly and quickly fell behind. The Outlaws pounced on a Smith fumble on the third play of the game and scored in five plays from the Mountain Pine 23. Quarterback Chandler Lowery, who at 6-3 and 195 is built along the same lines as Smith (6-0, 200), kept for the last three yards after 3:55 off the clock.
Dierks goes to Jessieville next week with a 2-0 record after avenging a 48-13 home loss to Mountain Pine last year. A victory would equal the Outlaws' win total last year, Fannin's first season.
Counce, meanwhile, said even with conference play two weeks ago, the Red Devils' season is on the line.
"I felt positive about our team and that they were ready to play," he said. "Then they came out flat."
Sports on 09/14/2019