KFDM COOP Posted October 26, 2008 Report Posted October 26, 2008 Rough night for Pats By Dave Rogers Published October 25, 2008 The temptation is to say that the Goose Creek Memorial Patriots couldn’t handle prosperity. The truth is they couldn’t handle the football or C.E. King speedsters Alvester Alexander and Josh Williams. The Patriots coughed up five turnovers and dropped numerous passes and Alexander and Williams combined for five TDs as the Panthers rallied for a 51-20 win at sparsely populated Stallworth Stadium Friday night. OK, so the Panthers only had to come back from a 14-6 deficit at the end of one quarter, but since C.E. King is a District 19-4A co-leader, it was Memorial’s most significant lead since holding a 20-19 third-quarter lead over Pasadena High in their first-ever game way back in August. “It was a new surprise,†Patriot coach Bret Boyd said of the early lead. “But I think maybe we just made them mad, I don’t know.†King, now 5-0 in district and 6-1 overall, reeled off 45 unanswered points before a third-string quarterback fumbled at the Panther 1-yard line, setting up DeMartie Allen’s second score of the night for Memorial with just 4:09 left to play. “The kids came out ready to play and we had a break go our way early for a change,†Boyd said. “But that speed of No. 34 (Alexander) and No. 1 (Williams), we couldn’t handle that speed.†Alexander, who entered the game as the league’s top rusher, gained 150 yards on 14 carries and scored on runs of 21, 25 and 13 yards before leaving the game late in the third quarter. Williams, the Panther quarterback, made his one pass completion of the night (in six attempts) good for a 39-yard scoring toss to teammate Patrick Johnson just 1:18 into the game and included a two-yard second-quarter scoring plunge among his 64 rushing yards. In all, C.E. King rushed for 397 yards on 51 attempts and had 436 total yards. Memorial, falling to 0-7 for the season, 0-5 in district, picked up 87 rushing yards on 19 carries by Allen, 108 passing yards from quarterback Cody Larson and finished with 200 total steps. After Williams’ 36-yard return of the opening kickoff, the Panthers went 54 yards in three plays to go ahead 6-0 on the QB’s pass to Johnson. The Patriots answered with a 48-yard kickoff return by Allen, then he carried seven times for 30 yards on the following 11-play, 47-yard match, converting a fourth-and-one with a 10-yard run and hitting paydirt with a twisting two-yard run. Price Jacobs’ extra-point kick put Memorial ahead 7-6 with 5:33 left in the first quarter. Then the Patriots caught a break. Panther punt returner Patrick Johnson coughed up a fumble that Memorial’s Vince Allen smothered at the King 33-yard line. On the next play, Larson rolled left and heaved the ball up. Keithen Collins circled back to catch the ball at the 5, then circled back to the end zone, fighting off a tackler to the goal line for 14-6 lead with 1:41 left in the first. A trio of second-quarter scores by the Panthers made Memorial’s eight-point lead a short-lived one. Alexander ran his first touchdown in from 21 yards, capping a four-play 55-yard drive he started with a 22-yard rip. The Patriots stopped Alexander on a two-point conversion try, but were called for a facemask violation. Williams got two points on the second try to tie the game with 8:54 left in the half. Alexander scored from 25 yards out to give C.E. King the lead with 5:27 left and Williams ran it across from two yards for a 28-14 halftime lead. The Panthers added 17 third-quarter points on a 13-yard Alexander run, a 23-yard run by Bruce Green and a 28-yard William Lopez kick and reserve Jimmie White scored from four yards out to make it 51-14 early in the fourth quarter.
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