Report by Chris Vines
The preseason conference favorite Stuttgart Ricebirds came to town as the number-three ranked team in Class 4A and 14 point favorite (according to Hooten’s) against Southside Friday night, but were in a battle from the opening tip with the game going to final possession before the Ricebirds were able to pull out a 21-18 win in the conference opener for both teams.
Both teams moved the ball early in the first quarter but failed to score on their first possession.
The Southerners were forced to punt on their second possession and a high snap gave the Ricebirds special teams the chance they needed to block the punt and get possession on the Southerners’ 31-yard line.
The Ricebirds scored on the game’s next play with a 31-yard touchdown run by Cedric Hawkins and took a 7-0 lead with 2:04 to play in the opening quarter.
The Southerners went 80 yards on the next drive capped off by a two-yard run by Landen Haas but missed the extra point and trailed 7-6 at halftime.
Southside got the kickoff to start the third quarter and took 46 seconds to take their first lead of the game with a 72-yard touchdown pass from Landen Haas to Tyler Jones but failed on the two-point conversion to keep the lead at 12-7.
After Stuttgart failed to score on their next possession, Southside put together a 59-yard drive capped, again, by a Haas two-yard touchdown run and stretch the lead to 18-7.
Southside recovered an onside kick but failed to score and left Stuttgart with a shot at a comeback. Stuttgart scored on a 29-yard run by Hawkins and two-yard run Coppins to take a 21-18 lead with less than three minutes left to go, the Southerners came up close at the end but missed on a fourth and long with 30 seconds left to seal the win for the Ricebirds.
The Southerners fall to 2-2 on the season and will be on the road to take on Clinton next week in a conference matchup.
