DeRidder defeats Southwood
Published 11:18 am Saturday, October 4, 2014
DERIDDER — The DeRidder Dragons gave their fans something to celebrate Friday night as they came from behind to defeat the Southwood Cowboys 26-21.
DeRidder recovered the opening kickoff, but made little progress as the Cowboys recovered a Dragons fumble.
The Cowboys made the best of the situation scoring on a 62-yard pass from Keytron Crowder to Brandon Lawson taking the early first quarter lead.
On Southwood’s next drive Trevion Morris punched it in from 11 yards out, extending the lead to 14-0.
The DeRidder “Black Shirt Defense” caught the break they were looking for with a big fumble recovery. Unfortunately the Dragons were not able to produce turning the ball over on downs.
The defense made up for after the turnover with David Crosley coming away with a 57-yard interception return for a touchdown, cutting the Cowboys lead to 14-7.
Morris found pay dirt for his second score of the game extending their lead to 21-7 with 7:43 left in the half.
The tide began to turn in the Dragons favor with D’Angelo Reder scoring on a 4-yard run for his first touchdown of the game, cutting the Cowboys lead to 21-14 at halftime.
It was all DeRidder the second half with the Dragons defense holding the Cowboys to a minus-21 yards on the ground.
Reder punched it in from 1-yard out to pull within a point before scoring a 2-yarder in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.
“I have been proud of guys before but never as much as I have been tonight,” said DeRidder coach Eric Parmley. “To sit there and spot them 14 points and comeback and never quit; the positive energy just kept getting better and they grew up as a team tonight.”
With the win the Dragons snapped a two-game skid finishing the nondistrict portion of their season with a 3-2 record.
Next week the Dragons will host rival Leesville in their District 3-4A home opener and battle for the Hooper Trophy.
Roddy Johnson
