Celebrate!: Coahulla Creek wins first game since 2015

Published 11:23 pm Friday, September 14, 2018

Coahulla Creek High School head coach Caleb Bagley might be happy his team has an open week after Friday night’s game against Murray County.

There’s going to be plenty of celebrating going on in Varnell.

Breaking the state’s longest current losing streak and winning for the first time since Oct. 9, 2015, the Colts won 35-7 at home over the Indians. It also marked the first win for Bagley, who took his first head coaching job when he took over the team in 2017.

“It has been a long, hard road, and I am just so happy for the kids,” said Bagley, whose team improved to 1-3, 1-1 Region 6-3A. “This has been a long road for the kids but they have kept fighting and kept working and it has paid off. We never really got close last year, and we knew that when we first got here. We knew we had to develop the kids better and condition better and work out better and it paid off tonight.”

Quarterback Cade Bates ran for a touchdown and threw two more, hitting Dylan Carlock and Michael King for touchdowns. Austin Hernandez scored on a 13-yard run, and King sealed the victory with an 80-yard interception return for a score.

The Colts jumped out to a 14-0 lead before Murray County got on the board in the final seconds of the first half to cut the lead to 14-7. But Coahulla Creek dominated the scoreboard in the second half. It is the just the seventh victory for the school in seven seasons of football.

“It wasn’t easy the whole night and they hung in there and battled when the momentum shifted to Murray County,” Bagley said. “We caught some breaks and had some kids step up and make some big plays and really grew up. We fought through a lot, and the kids are seeing what they are capable of.”

Now, it’s time to celebrate, but Bagley said the upcoming week will be a tough one.

“We will enjoy it, that is for sure,” Bagley said. “But we have a 48-hour rule — good or bad. You forget the good and the bad and get back to work come Monday. I want our kids and the school and the community to enjoy this, but we don’t want this to be the only time we feel this way this year, so it’s back to work on Monday.”