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Mount Pleasant’s Braylon Jones finds room on a run during Friday’s game. The Tigers fell in their home finale to Pine Tree, 23-13. TRIBUNE PHOTO / QUINTEN BOYD
The only consistent thing in Friday’s Mount Pleasant- Pine Tree game was the rain.
Neither the Tigers nor the Pirates could get much consistency going in the sloppy conditions. However, the Pirates took advantage of a few Tiger mistakes and built up a big enough lead that by the time the lightning delay hit, Pine Tree was able to take home the win.
Pine Tree picked up a 23-13 win over the Tigers in a weather-shortened game. Immediately after Pine Tree’s L’Marion Hunter scored from 32 yards out, a lightning strike caused a 30-minute delay. The delay restarted after a second strike during the first one and, after nearly 45 minutes of delay, officials ran the remaining 2:13 off the clock and called the game.
Despite the downpour, Mount Pleasant looked as though they would pick up a much-needed win for their playoff hopes early on. The Tigers scored first when Braylon Jones scored from nine-yards out to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.
Mount Pleasant added on to the lead when Kelcey Morris flew through the raindrops for a 65-yard punt return to make it 13-0.
The Pirates answered with five minutes left in the half when Jalynn Robinson scored from 27 yards out to make it 13-7.
The Tigers attempted to catch the Pirates off guard with a fake punt attempt, but the Pirates were able to stop the attempt and take over inside the Tiger 40yard line. A few plays later, Alston Elder-Gunter threw a six-yard score to Jonathon Fuller to give Pine Tree a 14-13 lead just before the half.
The rain, which eased at halftime, returned in the third quarter. Pine Tree added two to their lead when a snap got away and kicker Gerardo Chavez was forced to track it down. The Pirates tackled him in the end zone before he could get a kick off, leading to a safety.
Both teams struggled to move the ball in the second half before Hunter scored on what would become the final play of the game.
Also for the Tigers, Latristan Thompson came up with an interception, Ryder Marshall, Dontarian Jones and Makhi Grant both had fumble recoveries and Ricky Sampson added a sack.
The rain put a damper on Senior Night, which was moved inside and held prior to the game. Tiger seniors are Braylon Jones, Payton Chism, Kevi Heath, Kelcey Morris, Evan Shelley, Luke Hampton, Kyler Smith, Xavier Hills, Brannon Aguero, Zay Barksdale, Wes Tyler, Robert Sheridan, Ethan Easley, Baron Stephens, Raul Garcia, Micah Shepard, Brazos Brown, Ricky Sampson, Adrian Perez, Ashton Simon, Fabian Hernandez, Sammy Morua, Trey Duck and Adrian De La Cruz.
The Tigers fall to 2-7 overall and 1-4 in district. The district’s playoff teams are almost decided. By virtue of their upset win over Texas High in Texarkana Friday, Whitehouse will go in as the district champion and top seed. Texas High is second and going into the final week, Hallsville and Marshall are tied for third. Hallsville has the head to head tiebreaker over Marshall since they beat the Mavericks.
Pine Tree has an outside shot for one of the final two playoff spots, but since they lost to both Marshall and Hallsville, they would need a win over Texas High and help from Mount Pleasant (taking on Hallsville) and Whitehouse (playing Marshall) to have a chance.
The Tigers will hope to finish the year strong with a win at Hallsville Friday. The Bobcats were off last week and beat Pine Tree in overtime two weeks ago, 45-44. Quarterback Jace Moseley went 22-36 for 266 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 154 yards and four scores against the Pirates. Ashton Garza had nine catches for 124 yards and a touchdown and Ethan Miller had 67 yards receiving and a touchdown. Sawyer Dunagan added 44 yards through the air and Blayde Bullard finished with 23 yards receiving and 29 yards rushing.
Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Bobcat Stadium.