Big plays help, hurt EC in loss to Westlake

SHARPSBURG-This season, the East Coweta Indians have managed to make the big play part of arsenal that has resulted in four straight wins.
While they had several Friday night at Garland Shoemake Stadium, they were also victimized by the big play as they were defeated by the Westlake Lions 14-12.
The Region 2-AAAAAAA loss dropped the Indians' overall mark to 4-2 and 0-1 in the region while the Lions improved to  3-3 overall, 1-0 in region play.
In the opening series of the game, the Indians had the ball at their own 35 yard line when Juan Calipolitti raced 25 yards into Lions territory at their 40.
Meanwhile, Gerald Green had a pair of runs for more than 10 yards including scoring on an 18-yard run with 9:36 remaining in the first quarter and the lead was 6-0 after a missed extra point attempt.
Westlake quarterback Caleb Dixon utilized the big play on the ensuing drive as he connected on a 23-yard pass to Amir Spivey and a 27-yard toss to Marckus Johnson that resulted in a touchdown with 4:46 remaining and the Lions took a 7-6 lead after converting the extra point.
Christian Reid answered his counterpart in the second quarter as the EC quarterback hit Dantarius Chunn with a 26-yard pass during a series that stalled and a 50-yard pass on first down to Brayden Carey that resulted in a touchdown with 1:22 remaining in the half.
The score gave EC a 12-7 lead that stood at halftime as they failed to convert on a two-point conversion attempt.
The big play went away for most of the second half as the game became on of field position as each defense was making big stops including one by the Lions in which a Reed pass was intercepted at the Wetlake 42 and returned it to the EC 37 with 5:14 remaining in the third quarter.
However, the Lions were unable to take advantage as the Indians had a big play with Clay Patterson introducing himself to Dixon for an eight yard sack with 5:14 remaining in the quarter.
The big play would haunt the Indians in the fourth quarter as they failed to convert a fourth-and-inches play at their own 39 with 9:31 remaining which allowed the Lions to take over.
The Lions were able to take advantage with a big play of their own as Dixon found an open Jalen Tillman for a 36-yard pass that led to a touchdown with 8:39 remaining in the game and the Lions enjoyed a 14-12 lead after the extra point attempt was successful.
The Indians tried to comeback on the ensuing drive but were stalled at the Lions 47 with a fourth-and-one with 5:18 remaining but elected to punt.
This became a big play as the Lions ran the majority of the time remaining on the clock.
Reid was 8-for-10 with an interception for 152 yards and a touchdown while Green led the way running the ball with 117 yards on 17 carries.
The Indians will be on the road next week when they travel to Smyrna for a game against Wheeler who lost to Newnan 45-20 Friday night at Drake Stadium.
 

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