Wolverines battle Rams, fall short 13-7

After a hard fight, the East Webster Wolverines suffered their second loss of the season to the Vardaman Rams Friday night, 13-7.

In the second quarter, East Webster jumped on the scoreboard first with 4:38 left after a 25-yard field goal by Timakis Bell that put the Wolverines in the lead 3-0.

With 1:54 left in the first half the Ram's offense finally fired up, as quarterback Austin Spann connected with Arsenio Lee who ran the ball in for the touchdown. After the extra point, Vardaman took a 7-3 lead over East Webster.

"Our offense finally started clicking." said Ram's head coach Justin Hollis. "Our defense also stuck in there."

In the first and third quarters of the game, each team remained scoreless. However, both the Wolverine and the Ram offense reached the red zone several times, but all touchdown efforts were unproductive with the overpowering defense each team displayed.

Two plays after an interception caught by East Webster's Miguel Graham, early in the fourth quarter, Ledrick Patterson dashed five yards past Ram defenders for the touchdown. The Wolverines were now on top, 9-7.

With a will to win the Rams answered back with just a few minutes left in the game, as Vardaman's Markus Kimble recovered an East Webster fumble in the end zone for the touchdown giving the Rams a 13-9 lead over the Wolverines.

Although East Webster tried to put together a successful drive, with less than a minute left in the game, a Wolverine fumble caused all hopes for a win to disappear.

"Vardaman is a good team." Said Wolverine head coach Jimmy Carden. "We had several turnovers and also a few mental mistakes." He added. "I never like to lose, but we played four quarters very hard."

On the defensive side of the ball, East Webster's Justin Sims and Brennon Sprarks led with ten stops each for the night.

Carden was most impressed with his team's determination as the battled the Rams all four quarters.

"They gave a lot of effort, played hard all four quarters, and never quit." Carden said. "I played 16 players tonight and they never gave up."

Hollis was proud of his number one ranked Ram's performance against rival East Webster Friday night.

"We played with heart all four quarters." Hollis said. "That's a good football team we played. Coach Carden, Coach Williamson, I have high respect for them."

The Wolverines (1-2) will host Houlka (0-3) who lost 41-6 to South Ponotoc last week.