By By BRUCE HIXON Sports Editor
Their season may have had a three-week disruption, but that did not change the way the Brewton Middle School Tigers football team played.
When Brewton finally resumed its season Thursday against the visiting Carver (Fla.) Black Cats, they continued the three trends they established before Hurricane Ivan hit.
Their defense was stingy. Their offense made just
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enough plays to be effective. Most importanly, they upped their record to 3-0 with a 14-6 victory.
"We knew things would be a little ragged having not played for three weeks, but the kids hung in and did a good job," Brewton coach Rob Atkinson said.
The Tigers manufactured a 13-play, 58-yard scoring possession that ate up most of the first half clock. All 13 of those plays came on the ground. Perhaps fittingly, Lewis Garrick, who carried the ball eight times during the series, capped off the long possession with a one-yard touchdown plunge up the middle.
After having kept the ball on the ground during the whole series, Brewton went to the air on the conversion and quarterback Brent Odom connected with Cortez Banks to make it 8-0.
The Black Cats fumbled the ensuing kickoff and the Tigers recovered at the Carver 41.
This time it did not take long for Brewton to capitalize. It took only three plays for the Tigers to turn the Carver fumble into six points when Odom connected with Bradley McCreary on an eight-yard touchdown pass. However, the key play of the series was the first when Cortez Banks threw a 28-yard completion to Terez Lane off the halfback option.
The two-point conversion attempt was no good and that left Brewton's lead at 14-0 with just under two minutes left in the first half.
Seconds later Carver made it a one-possession game when it returned the kickoff back 65 yards for a touchdown. A failed two-point conversion left Brewton's lead at 14-6 with 1:37 left in the first half.
Brewton's defense made two big stands in the second half to preserve the win. The Tigers thwarted the first Carver threat when Garrett Robinson intercepted a deflected pass in the endzone. The other big defensive play came when Lane recovered a Carver fumble at the Brewton 21.
"Our defense bent, but didn't break. That is the philosophy Coach (Jamie) Riggs uses at the high school level and it's the same one we use. Our defense is actually yet to give up a point this season. The two touchdowns we've allowed have been on special teams," Atkinson said.
The Tigers will host Andalusia Thursday at 6 p.m. Brewton's home game against Jay, which is scheduled for October 14, has been cancelled.