Indians hang tough, but can’t turn back Rebels

Published 8:00 pm Friday, September 4, 2015

CHATSWORTH — What a difference a year makes for Murray County High School.

In the second game last season, the Indians traveled to Fannin County and got blasted 55-7. But in the second game of the 2015 season Friday night, Murray County hung tough with Fannin County for four quarters before falling 22-10.

The Indians (1-1) pulled within six points late in the third quarter to trail 16-10, but Fannin County (1-1) added a fourth quarter touchdown to put the game out of reach.

“I guess I could be nitpicky and find things to be upset with, but I’m not upset at all,” Murray County coach Chad Brewer said. “I thought our kids fought their tails off and they’re still in the football game late.”

Fannin County running back Tyler Collis rambled for 166 yards — including two long touchdown runs — and the Rebels’ physical defensive line bottled up the Indians’ running game, holding running back Tucker Gregg to 42 yards on 16 carries and quarterback Dominick Genitempo to 87 yards on the ground. Brewer admitted his offensive line struggled up front with Fannin’s defensive line.

The Indians were coming off a win over Southeast Whitfield Aug. 28, which was its first win to start a season since 2009. Brewer didn’t think his players were overconfident leading up to the game and said his players’ emotions after the loss showed how much they care about winning.

“We had a game plan, we stuck with it and I’m just proud of our kids,” Brewer said. “What I’m most proud of is we’ve got some kids hurting, and when losses hurt, that means we’re getting there and building the kind of program we want.”

Fannin County opened the scoring midway through the first quarter when Collis took a draw and raced 39 yards to the end zone untouched for the touchdown. After Collis added a 25-yard scoring scamper late in the second quarter, Fannin County held a 13-0 advantage.

But the Indians didn’t quit.

The offense strung together a 14-play, 57-yard drive keyed by several runs from Genitempo and Gregg. Facing third and goal on Fannin County’s 3 yard line, Gregg took the handoff and shot into the end zone for the touchdown. A Juan Andrade extra point pulled the Indians within 13-7 with 4:51 left until halftime, but Fannin County added a field goal to push its lead to 16-7 at the half.

Murray County was unable to capitalize off a Fannin County muffed punt in the third quarter, but did turn a fumble recovery by Garret Elrod into an Andrade field goal late in the third quarter.

Gregg pointed to the Indians’ slow start as a major reason for the loss.

“We didn’t start out hard,” Gregg said. “We didn’t come out fighting like we did last week. We’re going to practice this whole next week and come out and get LFO.”