Pine Prairie still winless after falling to Montgomery; score first points of year

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PINE PRAIRIE -- When you are as young as the Pine Prairie Panthers, you look for the moral victories in every game that you play because the wins may not come as much as you would like.
Pine Prairie was able to claim one of those moral victories Friday night, as they picked up their first points of the season in a 36-7 loss to the Montgomery Tigers.
With the loss, the Panthers fell to 0-4 on the season and will travel to Port Barre this Friday night for a non-district contest with the Red Devils.
After the game, Pine Prairie head coach Yves Prince praised the fight in his young team.
“I am just so proud of the effort that these players gave here tonight,” stated Prince. “We had a few starters out and had to play freshmen in their place. But, those guys really stepped up and played their hearts out. For the amount of freshmen that we are having to play, this team does not relax. I just keep hoping that their efforts are rewarded this season.”
The Panthers opened the game up with the football after Montgomery deferred to take the ball in the second half. Pine Prairie picked up some decent yardage, moving the ball from its 37-yard line to the Tiger 46. However the drive stalled, forcing the Panthers to punt the ball away.
The first defensive series for Pine Prairie ended in one of those moral victories, as the Panthers held Montgomery to a three and out.
The Panthers took over at their nine-yard line following the Tiger punt, but once again was forced to kick the ball away. On the punt attempt, the Montgomery special teams blocked the kick and recovered the ball at the Pine Prairie nine-yard line. The Panthers defense rose to the occasion, recovering a Tiger fumble at the five-yard line on the third play of the possession, stopping Montgomery from entering the end zone.
Pine Prairie drove the ball out to its 30-yard line before being forced to punt the ball away.
The Tigers regained possession at their 30-yard line. This time Montgomery was not to be denied, as they drove the ball the length of the field in eight plays, capping off the drive with a 16 yard touchdown run from Zac Clemens. The two-point run by Mikel Auge was good giving the Tigers an 8-0 lead with 6:55 to go in the second quarter.
Following another stalled Pine Prairie drive, Montgomery got the ball back at their 44-yard line following a Panther punt. This time it took the Tigers only two plays to hit pay dirt when Auge blasted his way to the end zone from 52 yards out. The two-point pass from Matthew Carter to James Tolbert was good making it a 16-0 game in favor of Montgomery with 4:26 to go in the first half.
The two teams traded possessions for the remainder of the quarter, but neither teams could put points on the board, keeping it a two-touchdown game as the teams headed into the locker room.
The Tigers came out swinging in the third quarter, scoring on their first drive of the second half. On third and one from the Pine Prairie 11-yard line, Clements barrelled his way in for the 11 yard touchdown run. The two-point pass failed, however the Montgomery now led 22-0 with 8:20 left in the third quarter.
On the ensuing possession following the kick-off, the Panthers coughed up the ball on the Tiger 41-yard line and was recovered by a Montgomery defensive player. The Tigers used their powerful run game to pick up their fourth score of the night when JT Turner rumbled past the Pine Prairie defense from 18 yards out. Kyland Nash added the two-point run to put Montgomery up 30-0 with 5:50 to go in the third quarter.
The Tigers picked up their final score of the game on their ensuing possession as Auge broke loose for a 53 yard touchdown run.
The lone Panther score came late in the contest when Elijah George blew past all Tiger defenders for a 34 yard touchdown scamper. The run came on the fifth play of the final drive for Pine Prairie. Jacob Miller tacked on the extra point to make it a 36-7 game.
George led all Panther rushers with 87 yards on 14 carries.