'Cats down DeSoto in O.T.

by Jim Woods

It is why they play the games. A thrilling three point overtime victory proved to be a real "cat fight" Friday night when the heavily favored Louisburg Wildcats had to go into overtime, and kick a field goal to defeat the DeSoto Wildcats, 24-21.

Following a DeSoto touchdown pass and a failed conversion with 5:10 seconds remaining in the first quarter, Louisburg put together a sixteen play drive in the second quarter that failed to produce any points. At half time, a stunned Louisburg team found themselves down six points. DeSoto, 0-2 on the season looked like they had a chance for a legitimate upset.

At the beginning of the second half it was time to see if Louisburg could answer some questions that all young teams face. Can they play from behind? DeSoto kicked off to Louisburg and it took only three plays and a little over a minute for Wildcats to score and take a 7-6 lead. It was Louisburg who scored again with a pass from Kody Cook to senior tight end Ryan Dvorak to make the score 14-6.

After a return of Louisburg's kickoff to their own 47 yard line, it was DeSoto's turn to quickly cover 57 yards in five plays scoring on an 8 yard run and completing a two point conversion to even the score 14-14 with 8:58 having elapsed in the third quarter. A DeSoto punt which was downed at Louisburg's own two yard line ended the third quarter of play.

Starting the fourth quarter, it was Junior tailback Ryan Roberts who carried the load beginning with a 65 yard run from his own two yard line and finishing a ten play drive with a six yard run to put Louisburg back in the lead 21-14. However, after another long return of the following Louisburg kickoff to their own 45 yard line, DeSoto managed to score again in six plays following a long pass and one yard run to even the score 21-21 with 4:15 remaining in the game. As time ran out, the game ended with the teams tied.

DeSoto had the first chance in overtime but failed to score. After two plays and the ball on the one yard line, Louisburg kicked the winning field goal to ice the game and come away with a 24-21 victory.