Demarius Howard’s first game as the head football coach of the Coffeeville Pirates didn’t go the way he would have liked.
His team trailed on the road at Bruce 6-0 in the closing minutes of the first half last week. Earlier in the half, the Pirates lost standout wide receiver Stanford Spearman to an elbow injury on a controversial tackle. That injury plus seven players going down with cramps limited what the Pirates could get done on both sides of the football. The players going down forced eight freshmen Pirates to have to see action.
Bruce took advantage of a mistake in the secondary to score on a 40-yard touchdown pass with three seconds left in the half to make it 14-0 at halftime. The Trojans added a pair of second-half touchdowns in the to win a 28-0 decision.
“Our players got caught up in Spearman going down in what we thought was an illegal tackle,” Howard said. “I thought it affected us the rest of the night. We also had to play more of our younger players than we would have liked thanks to cramps.”
Senior Anthony Torrance Jr. was limited to 60 yards on the ground for the night. Jarvarius Harris was the defensive standout for the Pirates from the strong safety position.
The Pirates take to the road for the second time this season making the trip into Carroll County to face the J.Z. George Jaguars. J.Z. George under direction of Rusty Smith opened the season last with a 14-0 win over Alcorn Central at Glen.
Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. at Carrollton.
