EDINBURGH — Edinburgh came close to its first win of the season Friday night, but South Decatur escaped with a 20-18 victory.
The Lancers took to the air early when Tyson Sackman hit Bryce Burton up the seam for a 30-yard touchdown with 6:22 left in the first quarter. On the very next possession, the Cougars answered when Gage Mings took a handoff 51-yards to the end zone to tie the game at 6-6 with 2:18 to go in the first.
Early on, the ground game was churning for South Decatur. Mings finished with 151 yards rushing.
“(Edinburgh) did at the end, but our linemen did their job and found me a hole to get through,” Mings said.
With 1:10 remaining in the first quarter, Lancers coach Jason Burton called on the Sackman-to-Burton con nection one more time, and 73 yards later, Burton crossed the goal line to give the lead back to Edinburgh (0-5) at 12-6.
The Sackman-Burton combination has been working for the Lancers this season. Sackman threw for 288 yards and three touchdowns, all of which were to Burton. Burton had eight catches for 153 yards and the three scores.
“We are just trying to get that monkey off our back”, Burton said.
The Cougars (2-3) came roaring back late in the second quarter. With 2:35 left in the half, Jacobi Shook plunged into the end zone from 1-yard out. Justin Johnson booted the ball through the uprights to make the score 13-12 in favor of South Decatur.
The Cougars aimed to keep it in all in the family when Kelby Shook took a bootleg to the right all the way to paydirt for the 12-yard score for a 20-12 lead at halftime.
Edinburgh came out firing in the second half. Sackman hit Burton again with a 13-yard touchdown pass with 11:09 left in the quarter. After a failed 2-point conversion, the Lancers trailed 20-18.
The defenses came to play for the rest of the game. Edinburgh was finally able to figure out the Cougar run game and that kept it close. However, the South Decatur defense was too much, and the Lancers failed on fourth down inside enemy territory on three separate drives in the fourth quarter.
“(Edinburgh) came out and they believed they could win”, South Decatur head coach Greg Sauley said. “I though at the end, they clicked it in.”
