The Minden Crimson Tide’s season came to an end with a 35-14 loss to the Wossman Wildcats in the first round of the non-select Division II playoffs Friday night at The Pit.
Minden, the No. 12 seed, finished 5-6. Wossman (5-6), the No. 21 seed, visits No. 5 Plaquemine in the second round.
The Wildcats ended the Tide’s season for the second straight year.
Three big plays for touchdowns by Wossman in the first half contributed to the Tide’s downfall.
Those three accounted for 215 of Wossman’s 443 yards of total offense, per stats compiled for the KBEF-FM broadcast.
The first was an 80-yard touchdown run by Kentavious Griffin on the game’s first play.
The second came after Minden tied the game at 14 on a 1-yard sneak by quarterback Hudson Brown and Braxton Glover’s PAT. That capped a 13-play, 64-yard drive that included a fourth-down conversion.
Wossman took over at the 16 and moved to the Minden 48. Jaterrance Long passed to Carderrious Williams Jr. over the middle. The ball appeared to be slightly tipped but Williams caught it and went the distance.
Wossman’s third big play came with just 54 seconds left in the half. Facing a third-and-9, the Wildcats scored on an 87-yard pass from long to Ronquarius Hargrove.
While it wasn’t on a big play, Wossman’s second TD came after Minden had a chance to seize the momentum.
The Tide tied the game at 7 on a 31-yard perfectly thrown pass from Brown to Jaden Johnson in the back of the end zone.
The Minden defense forced a punt and the Tide looked to have seized the momentum. But the punt was muffed and Wossman recovered at the 50.
Three plays later Long found Griffin open in the flat for a 27-yard score.
Minden trailed 28-14 at the half. Outstanding defense in the second half kept the Tide within striking distance until late. Unfortunately for Minden, Wossman’s defense was also outstanding.
The Tide forced two turnovers, a fumble and interception, but couldn’t take advantage. The interception gave Minden a first down at the Wossman 32 late in the third quarter but a sack resulted in a big loss and a pass fell incomplete on fourth down.
The Tide also failed to convert a fourth-and-10 at the Wildcats 36.
But Minden was in the game until Long scored on a 13-yard run after picking up a low snap and almost getting tackled for a loss with 7:17 to play.
The Wossman defense put a lot of pressure on Brown. He was mostly able to get passes off but took some big hits.
Brown completed 9-of-21 passes for 84 yards.
Minden had some success on the ground in the first half but very little in the second.
The Tide finished with 122 yards rushing. Freshman Jardon Carey led the team with 46 yards on 11 carries.
Johnson had six catches for 54 yards.
Wossman’s Long completed 12-of-19 passes for 256 yards.