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Shootout: Kinner's breakout night not enough in Little Elm loss to Sherman
BY Townsend Keller, Staff Writer
One week down in the Little Elm football team's 2012 season and while the number of wins remains to be determined, the bar for entertainment value was set fairly high Friday night.
The Lobos (0-1) fell to visiting Sherman, 57-56, at the Little Elm Athletic Complex, but did so in stunning fashion thanks to the individual performances of running back Keaun Kinner and Sherman quarterback Dru Smith.
The Lobos began the night honoring Eric Jackson, an assistant coach who had died of a heart attack in the offseason. After honoring Jackson with a video of him leading the Lobos in their yells, Little Elm took the field in the first game of an entire season the team dedicated to their coach's memory.
"(I) feel great, but of course I feel bad that we lost," Kinner said.
In the offensive slugfest this game became, these two would prove to be the heavyweights.
In the first two Lobo offensive drives alone, Kinner racked up 143 yards rushing on 12 carries, the first of which ended with him fumbling the ball to Sherman on the Bearcats' 8-yard line. The second drive resulted in a 9-yard score that tied the game, 7-7, after Tre Mask took a Smith pass 46 yards on the previous Sherman drive. Smith would throw another touchdown in the first quarter to Joseph Harvey.
In the second quarter, Kinner would provide 68 of the 75 yards of Little Elm's offensive drive on seven carries, capping it off with a 7-yard touchdown run to tie it, 14-14. It would be Smith, however, that would provide the last score of the half with a 29-yard scoring throw to J.T. Luper. The Lobos then ate over seven minutes on a drive that would see them turn the ball over on downs to the Bearcats, who kneeled to drain away the few remaining seconds of the half to secure a 21-14 lead over the Lobos at the halfway point.
The start of the second half was not to Sherman's liking as junior linebacker Jerome Cotton fumbled the opening kickoff back to Little Elm, who would capitalize on the Bearcat mishap with a 20-yard run from Kinner to tie, 21-21. Smith answered accordingly, lobbing an 8-yard score to a wide-open Harvey. Kinner wasted no time in answering, busting the Lobos' first play from scrimmage for a 75-yard score.
The fourth quarter saw six touchdowns scored between the two teams, as Lobo quarterback Chris Phelps ran one in for the first score of the final period. He was countered by Mask, who ran for two touchdowns of 22 and 57 yards on two Bearcat drives. Little Elm's Jaylen Price provided a 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and on the first play of Sherman's following drive, Harvey took a Smith pass 56 yards to the house. Phelps responded with a 19-yard touchdown strike to Terrell Anderson to tie Sherman, 50-50.
Sherman received the ball to start overtime and Smith promptly connected with Jaquay Pough and kicked the extra point. Little Elm answered with Phelps running it in from 3 yards out. It was then that head coach Donald Stowers elected to try a two-point conversion. Kinner was stopped 2 yards short of the end zone, and Sherman escaped with a 57-56 victory.
"It's just about as competitive as it can get going into overtime, us going for two to try to win," Stowers said. "It didn't quite work out, we've tried it in the past. This the first I've ever tried it out here and it not work. Nevertheless, it was a game versus a great football team.
"It hurts, we felt like we had a good plan for them."
Stowers also described how the team has come together after the passing of Jackson, and the work the players did in the offseason to prepare themselves for a season they have dedicated to his memory.
"The kids have worked their tails off during the offseason, leading up to the summer workouts just dedicating everything they do to him," he said. "We all know the impact he had on this program, the lives he's touched. We just want to continue to dedicate this year to him and hopefully continue to play like we did tonight and hopefully get on the winning side of things."
Phelps hit 2-of-3 passes for 49 yards and a touchdown while rushing 97 yards and two more scores. Terrell Anderson led the Lobos in receiving with two receptions for 49 yards and a touchdown.
For Sherman, Mask was the leading rusher with ten carries for 100 yards. Luper hauled in six receptions for 133 yards and a score. Harvey caught four balls for 116 yards and three touchdowns.
The Lobos look to right the ship Friday at 7 p.m. when they host Carrollton Newman Smith.
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