Outlaws mauled by the Lions

The Outlaws were taken down 34-22 by the Lions at Cottage Grove (CG) on Friday, September 30.

CG was in control from the start. On the game's opening play from the line of scrimmage, the Lions' quarterback, Blake Sentman, found Woods for a 65-yard touchdown pass, when Woods broke free past the Outlaws' secondary.

The Lions took a 24-0 lead into the half after Sentman racked up 209 yards through the air, and added touchdown runs of five and six yards, each on option-read plays.

Sisters was plagued by penalties and costly mistakes on both sides of the ball in the first half.

The Outlaws opened the second half with an eight-play scoring drive, punctuated by a nice 24-yard touchdown run by Christopher Luz, which cut the Lions' lead to 24-6. Sisters converted a two-point conversion by Johnny Gurney to make it 24-8.

Later in the third quarter, the Outlaws executed a trick play in the form of a double pass from Ben Saba to Tyler Head to shorten the lead to 27-15. On the ensuing CG drive, Sentman kept the Lions' offense moving with a 28-yard pass, which got the Lions deep into Sisters territory. The Lions scored on a Sentman run three plays later, which pushed the Lions to a 34-15 lead.

Sisters rounded out their scoring with just over two minutes left in the game. Defensive end Austin Lake made a great play and intercepted a pass and ran it back 18 yards for the TD. Minam Craven's kick made the score 34-22. The Outlaws went for an onside kick, but it was unsuccessful.

Johnny Gurney was the Outlaws' leading rusher with 102 yards on 18 carries. Ryan Cook had seven tackles and five assists.

Coach Gary Thorson said, "We put ourselves in a very deep hole, and against a team as good and well-coached as Cottage Grove is right now (the game) was an uphill battle. The amount of mistakes and penalties we made was very disappointing, but once again I was pleased with how they battled the entire game, particularly the second half.

"CG is a very seasoned group in the skill position, and they have tremendous speed at a variety of spots. When you make mistakes against teams like that it can really hurt you. I think we got a bit wide-eyed early on when they scored early on us, and we did not respond like we should have, and things snowballed from there."

The Outlaws are currently 1-1 in league play, and 3-2 overall. Sisters will play on the road against undefeated Elmira (5-0 overall, 2-0 in Sky-Em) on Friday, October 7. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.