When an undefeated team faces a winless team at the halfway point of the regular season, you might expect to see a blowout.
But that was not the case when the 4-0 Minden Crimson Tide faced the 0-4 Woodlawn Knights in a District 1-4A game Friday night at Independence Stadium.
Minden found itself in a tense battle that wasn’t decided until the final minute. But ultimately the Tide came out on top 21-14.
Minden is 5-0 for the second time in the last three years. The Tide improved to 2-0 in district. Woodlawn dropped to 0-5 and 0-2.
Minden Head Coach Spencer Heard said he thought the defense played well. One of Woodlawn’s touchdowns came on an interception return. More than half of the Knights’ 273 yards came on two plays and a final drive late in the game.
Heard said he had a feeling the Tide might have some trouble on offense going in. Minden had one offensive lineman out with an injury.
“I thought that their front was quick off the ball and they were going to play a lot of close man coverage and put a bunch of people in the box, make it hard for us to throw the ball,” he said. “We had some breakdowns in our O line. We got a guy hurt and the left side of our line was letting people through left and right.
“So we didn’t have enough time to throw the ball that we needed for a while. Switching people around, we got a little more at the end.”
Heard gave the Knights credit.
“They played hard and they had a good game plan,” he said. ‘We had scoring opportunities and didn’t convert when we needed to score a couple times early. So, yeah, got the win, but you know, we can definitely play better.”
Minden trailed 14-13 after Woodlawn’s Jayden Posey returned an interception 1-yard for a touchdown with 2:37 left in the third quarter.
The Knights got the ball back but the Tide forced a punt that went just 12 yards.
Minden took over at the Woodlawn 45. The Tide reached the 10 on a 30-yard pass from Kaiden King to Emmanuel Kinsey. A holding penalty on first down moved the ball back to the 20.
On the next play, Kentrell McGlothern broke through a big hole up the middle for the touchdown. King passed to Jonathan Cooksey for the two-point conversion, giving Minden the 21-14 lead with 8:26 left to play.
The Tide forced a punt and drove to the Knights 15. But they eventually faced a fourth-and-27 and a pass fell incomplete.
Woodlawn took over on its 15 with 3:43 remaining. After recovering a fumble for a first down on fourt-and-2, Cameron Walker completed a long pass to the Minden 32.
On fourth-and-9 from the 16, Walker ran to the 5. On second down the ball was loose after the snap and Woodlawn recovered at the 22 as the clock ticked down the final seconds.
The Knights had no time outs and the game ended after a Woodlawn false start.
Minden’s lone touchdown of the first half came on a 1-yard run by Jardon Carey late in the first quarter.
Woodlawn tied it in the third on a 48-yard pass from Walker to Jaden White.
The Tide took a 13-7 lead on a 14-yard run by Ian Clark with 8 seconds left in the third quarter. That came after Minden partially blocked a punt. A Tide player touched the ball after the block and Woodlawn recovered but the end result was a fourth-down stop.
Minden had 339 yards total offense, per stats kept for KBEF-FM’s broadcast. King completed 9-of-21 passes for 142 yards with two interceptions. The interceptions were the Tide’s only turnovers.
Lucas Owens Jr. rushed for a team-high 77 yards on 12 carries. Johnson had 44 on eight and Carey 43 on 10.
Johnson had four catches for 56 yards and Carey had two for 34.
Minden visits defending district champion Friday. The Griffins (5-0, 2-0) defeated Northwood 56-13 Friday night.