For the fourth time in five weeks, the Minden Crimson Tide found themselves in a close battle in the fourth quarter.
Friday night, the opponent was the Huntington Raiders at homecoming at W.W. Williams Stadium.
Minden trailed 24-16 and had the ball. But Huntington came up with a big defensive play and went on to win 32-16.
Minden dropped to 0-5 overall and 0-2 in District 1-4A. Huntington improved to 3-2 and 1-1.
Senior Jakobe Jackson took most of the snaps at quarterback and did all he could to keep the Tide in the game.
Jackson rushed for 124 yards on 27 carries, per stats kept for the KASO/KBEF radio broadcast, and scored on runs of 21 and 5 yards.
He also had an interception near the goalline, stopping a promising Huntington drive.
Cameron Mitchell rushed for 60 yards on five carries. He and Jackson both scored two-point conversions.
Minden was less successful in the passing game. Jackson was 7-of-19 for 36 yards and two interceptions. The second one came after the Tide drove deep into Huntington territory down 32-16 late in the game.
He was under heavy pressure on fourth-and-goal and was forced to get rid of the ball.
Because it happened early in the game, it’s easy to forget about its impact. But this was a key sequence.
Minden came up just short on a fourth-down try near midfield. Huntington drove inside the 10.
The Tide then forced a fourth-and-goal from the 8. Huntington’s Isaiah Washington stretched just far enough to make the catch in the back of the end zone.
Another factor was Huntington’s success on two-point conversions. The Raiders were 4-for-4.
Minden made some key stops, including a tackle behind the line by Demetrius Robinson that helped keep the Raiders out of the end zone late in the first half.
But Huntington had some success running and passing.
Landon Gibbs was 10-of-17 for 152 yards, including a 34-yard pass to Kaleb Tucker that gave the Raiders a 30-16 lead with 7:46 left to play.
Huntington rushed for 175 yards. Marcus Willis had 87 on 14 carries.
Minden visits Bossier Friday. The Bearkats (1-4, 0-2) fell to Northwood 41-0 Friday night.