By Dr. John E. Morgan

Sometimes statistics lie.  At the end of the first half in Collinsville’s game with Cleveland, the local Panthers had 228 yards in offense to their foe’s 199.  They had held the ball for over 17 minutes leaving Cleveland with less than seven minutes.  The problem?  Cleveland led the game 30-14.  They would score four more TDs in the third quarter to go on to win the game 58-28.

Cleveland scored two touchdowns on fumble returns and another on an interception return.  In addition, they had a fourth TD set up another interception on the Panther twenty that Cleveland cashed in seven seconds later.  That’s four touchdowns directly related to Collinsville turnovers.

To their credit, Collinsville continued to play hard and scored another TD on a 64 yard drive that took six minutes off the clock.  Then the local Panthers intercepted Cleveland on two straight possessions, but were unable to get any more points before the half.

Collinsville’s two second half scores came when Steven Wash reached up and snatched down a one handed interception that he returned 22 yards for a TD.  They added a late fourth quarter touchdown on a 52 yard pass from new player Keaton Kilgro to Daniel Mann.  On the night, Collinsville’s Dallas Reed rushed for 68 yards and a TD and threw a halfback pass for 62 yards that set up a touchdown.

Cleveland turned the five Collinsville turnovers into 28 points.  Collinsville only got seven points off of four Cleveland turnovers.

Coach Willingham was blunt with his team.  “We aren’t mentally tough.  They are.  We have to react better to adversity.  They did.  We need to learn to reach down inside when adversity comes.  Tonight it was like a snow ball rolling down a hill.  We’ve got to get better.  You have to block better for each other.”

“Now, go have a good weekend.  Then come back out here and let’s get ready for the rest of the season.”  Collinsville travels all the way down to Horseshoe Bend Friday night.