Cougars Lose to Wheeler

There was dirty laundry all over Kell Stadium in Marietta Friday night during the Chattahoochee-Wheeler game. Dingy yellow laundry, in the form of penalty markers.

The Cougars were flagged 13 times for 106 yards in a heartbreaking 21-17 loss to the Wheeler Wildcats. Two of the penalties were devastating, each wiping out long Chattahoochee touchdown runs.

Chattahoochee was trailing 21-17 with 2:43 left in the game when senior running back Jack Kelly burst up the middle, hurdled a tackler, and raced 22 yards for what the Hooch faithful were sure was the winning touchdown.

The dagger in the heart of the Cougar Nation took the form of a dirty yellow penalty marker lying on the ground in the Cougar backfield. Illegal formation was the call. Touchdown nullified. On the next play quarterback Brendan Cross's pass was intercepted in the end zone. Earlier in the game a 55-yard touchdown run by Cross was erased by off-setting penalties.

Wheeler scored the game's first touchdown with 5:50 left in the opening quarter when quarterback Corey Pfaff found Rapheal Scott alone in the end zone. The Wildcats missed the extra point and it was 6-0.

The Cougars took the ensuing kickoff and marched 65 yards in 12 plays to score when running back Gary Grace, who gained 117 yards in the game, went airborne from two yards out but landed in the end zone without the ball. The official closest to the play ruled Grace lost it while in mid-air. Offensive lineman Stephan Howard pounced on the ball and was credited with the touchdown, making it 7-6.

Chattahoochee got a second quarter touchdown on a brilliant 29 yard run by senior running back Elton Ford who started up the middle, hung a sharp right and raced around the end to make the score 14-6. The lead didn't last long. Three and a half minutes later, Wheeler linebacker Heath Weaver blocked a Cross punt.

Dale Carey scooped up the loose ball and returned it 15 yards for a touchdown. The two-point conversion sent the teams to the locker-room tied 14-14.

The Cougars' only score in the 2nd half came on a 32 yard field goal by Kyle Hady, giving Hooch a 17-14 lead with six minutes to go in the 3rd quarter. It stayed that way until the Wildcats scored with 4:40 to go in the game on Corey Tower's five-yard run to make the final Wheeler 21-Chattahoochee 17.

After the game Cougar Head Coach Terry Crowder gathered the team around him on the field. He spoke to them like a father who had just seen his children give everything they had, only to come up short.

"I love you guys more now that I did before the game started," he said, his voice full of pride.

Crowder took care not to criticize the officials for calling what many of the Cougar faithful thought was an unusual amount of penalties against Chattahoochee.

"Sometimes it just isn't fair," he said. "The thing to do, as hard as it is, is to say they beat us and move on. Don't dwell on it. I can't explain it," he continued. "I know one thing. We'll go to work and get things fixed. Now let's go home to Hooch."

As the Cougars were leaving the stadium, a reporter asked Crowder what he thought about the number of penalties called against his team. The coach just shook his head and kept walking.

His silence spoke volumes.