Mistakes plague Cougar team in 36-20 loss

By Myra Bean

North Panola’s Ricky Hunt scored three touchdowns as he rushed for 222 yards on 12 carries in the 36-20 loss to South Delta of Rolling Fork Friday night.

That was about the only shining spot for the Cougars in the third straight road game of the season.

First quarter was a detriment to the Cougar offense as quarterback Martavious Butler was sacked three times. At the end of the first quarter, neither team had scored.

South Delta got on the scoreboard in the second quarter on a Cougar fumble that the Bulldogs returned for a 25-yard touchdown. With the two-point conversion, South Delta led 8-0.

Hunt broke for a 62-yard run with 2:41 left in the first half but the pass failed and the score remained 8-6 Bulldogs.

The Cougars fumbled the ball with 19 seconds to go in the half and the Bulldogs recovered on the Cougar 13 yard line. With 13 seconds left in the half, the Bulldogs scored on the first play from scrimmage on a 13-yard pass to go ahead 16-6 at halftime with the two-point conversion run.

The Bulldogs struck first in the third quarter and went ahead 24-6 with 7:01 on the clock. Hunt cut the lead with two touchdowns with less than three minutes left in the quarter.

He broke for a 60-yard run with 2:39 left and after a fumble recovery ran for a 71-yard touchdown with 47 seconds left in the quarter. Butler connected with Hunt on one of the two-point conversions to cut the lead 24-20.

The Cougars had new life going into the fourth quarter, but two more lost fumbles which turned into Bulldog touchdowns which  deflated the struggling team even further.

The Cougars had 294 total yards of offense, including 200 rushing yards. The Cougars lost a total of four fumbles. Butler completed six of nine passes for 94 yards.