By Katie Barker
Carter County Times
The West Carter High School football team faced St. Henry High School in the first round of 2A Football State Finals, where the Comets would fall 22-25. The Comets didn’t go down without a fight though.
Scoring the first touchdown of the game, senior Allen King ran the ball in early in the first quarter followed by a two-point conversion from senior Nate Hale to let the Comets have an early lead. West Carter’s defense would hold the Crusaders from scoring until late in the first quarter but stopping them on a two-point conversion ending the quarter 8-6.
The Crusaders came into the second quarter with more hustle scoring two more touchdowns, while the Comets could only score one more going into halftime 14-18.
“It was a very tightly contested playoff game, these are the games you want to play in, and our guys rose to the occasion. We went down 11 early in the third and our guys refused to quit; they did everything they could to get back into the game.” Coach Daniel Barker said.
The Comets did exactly that in the fourth quarter when the Crusaders forced the Comets to punt but senior Eli Hancock recovered the fumble, giving the Comets the ball back. This led to Hale running the ball in for his second touchdown of the night putting the Comets behind by 3 after a two-point conversion by King was good.
Comet defense pushed back against the Crusaders offense, forcing them to turn the ball over with a minute and a half left in the game. The Comets would fall just short though of another touchdown after a hail Mary attempt that the Crusaders knocked away; giving them the 22-25 win and moving to the next round of playoffs.
“We battled till the end and what happened happened; didn’t end the way we wanted it to…but these guys are great, great players, and great coaches.” said Hale.
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