Published: September 01, 2007 01:03 am         

Early mistakes doom Patriots

There was no miracle comeback this time for Independence.

But the Patriots made a mighty effort.

Down 14-0 early and victimized by its own turnovers, Independence made it exciting before falling 28-21 to Sherman Friday night at Coal City.

“We laid it down on the 1, we gave it to them on the 20, we fumbled a punt and on the first play of the second half we fumbled,” Patriots coach Scotty Cuthbert said. “But with two minutes to go, we have a chance to win the game.”

The Patriots, already playing without injured running back Jake Justice, lost two more backs during the game and managed just 34 yards on the ground.

Senior quarterback Richard Hampton rose to the occasion, however, throwing for 142 yards, including scoring strikes of 12 and 75 yards to end Jonathan Hunt.

Independence marched down to the Sherman 17, getting a great 32-yard catch in heavy traffic from Ben Cadle, before losing the ball on downs with 4:36 to go.

The defense forced a Sherman punt at the Tide 31, but the Patriots’ air attack finally ran out of gas.

Hampton overthrew on receiver, another ran the wrong route and the ball went through a third’s hands.

“I didn’t realize how good Hampton could throw until tonight,” Sherman coach Bill Miller said. “We made a little adjustment towards the end and it helped us out quite a bit.”

Turnovers led to both early Sherman touchdowns. Quarterback Colby Treadway took the ball in from the 3 at the 6:30 mark of the opening quarter. Fullback Seth Smith followed less than three minutes later with a 4-yard TD run.

Jeff Cook ignited the Patriots by returning the ensuing kickoff 83 yards, and John Bennett kicked the PAT to half the deficit to 14-7.

Treadway found Jacob Rollo with a 61-yard pass early in the second period, but Hampton hooked up with Hunt to make it a 22-13 contest at the half.

Hampton’s 75-yard bomb to Hunt, followed by a Hampton-Hunt PAT pass, cut the lead to one point in the third.

Independence would get no closer, as tailback Derek Browning made it 28-21 with a 10-yard scamper with 8:59 left to play.

The Tide finished a balanced running attack, getting 54 yards from halfback Shane Keeney, 53 from Treadway, 51 from Browning and 47 from Smith.

Treadway hit 6-of-8 passes for 131 yards and was intercepted once for Sherman’s only turnover.

The Tide were plagued by mistakes last week in a 29-18 loss at Wyoming East.

Cuthbert said the Patriots’ mistakes can be fixed.

“We’ll practice our tackling and try to improve our running game a little bit,” he said. “With our passing game we can scare some people.

“We’re getting better.”

— E-mail:

dstillwell@register-herald.com



Sherman 28, Independence 21

S (1-1) 14 8 0 6 — 28

I (1-1) 7 6 8 0 — 21

First Quarter

S: Colby Treadway 3 run (Run failed), 6:30

S: Seth Smith 4 run (Derek Browning pass from Treadway), 3:52

I: Jeff Cook 83 kickoff return (John Bennett kick), 3:37

Second Quarter

S: Jacob Rollo 61 pass from Treadway (Rollo pass from Treadway), 9:43

I: Jonathan Hunt 12 pass from Richard Hampton (Pass failed), 1:15

Third Quarter

I: Hunt 75 pass from Hampton (Hunt pass from Hampton), 1:15

Fourth Quarter

S: Browning 10 run (Run failed), 8:59

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — S: Treadway 12-53-1, Browning 15-51-1, Shane Keeney 12-54, Smith 8-47-1. I: Jeff Clifton 3-(-14), Richard Hampton 7-0, Kyle Belcher 7-6, Justin Chandler 1-2, Adam Whitt 1-(-1), Jeff Cook 2-13.

PASSING — S: Treadway 6-8-1, 131-1. I: Hampton 11-18-0, 142-2.

RECEIVING — S: Smith 1-20, Browning 2-45, Jacob Rollo 1-61-1, Jonathan Bowman 1-5. I: Hunt 4-147-2, Clifton 1-7, Belcher 2-1, Zach Thompson 1-3, Corey Cheek 1-15, Ben Cadle 2-46.

TURNOVERS — S: Eric Davis (fum.), Sam Milam (fum). I: John Bennett (int).