After several close calls and weeks of frustration, the Minden Crimson Tide picked up their first victory of the season Friday night, defeating Bossier 27-6 at Memorial Stadium in Bossier City.
It was by no means a thing of beauty, but it looked pretty good to Minden Head Coach Spencer Heard.
“It’s a great feeling,” said Heard, who has watched his players suffer losses in four games that went down to the wire. “To be kind of so close in so many games. It’s disappointing to get that close obviously. But these guys battled through it and came together and kept playing hard. So I’m just very proud of them and excited for them to get that win tonight.”
The Tide improved to 1-5 overall and 1-2 in District 1-4A. According to GeauxPreps.com, Minden is No. 31 in the non-select Division II power rankings. The top 28 teams in the final rankings make the playoffs so the Tide is still in contention for a spot.
Bossier dropped to 1-5 with its fifth straight loss and 0-3 in district.
The Tide did almost all of its damage offensively on the ground, racking up 297 yards on 34 attempts, according to stats kept for the KASO/KBEF radio broadcast.
Dunavon Robinson had his best game of the season, rushing for 126 yards on 16 carries.
Jakobe Jackson continued his outstanding season, gaining 127 yards on nine carries.
The defense held the Bossier to 213 yards. But the Bearkats ran 61 plays which enabled them to run the clock and keep the game close until late.
Sophomore Hudson Brown was back at quarterback after Jackson took most of the snaps last week.
“I thought Hudson operated the offense very well tonight,” Heard said.
Minden scored first on a 1-yard run by Porter Neal with 6:14 left in the first quarter.
Bossier answered with its first offensive touchdown since the season opener. The Bearkats went 73 yards in 10 plays. Quan Scott completed a 23-yard pass to Sen’Tavion Ball for the touchdown. A try for two failed.
Jackson broke loose for a 67-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter. That was all the scoring in the first half with the Tide on top 13-6.
Robinson ran 15 yards for a touchdown with 2:24 left in the third quarter. Jackson closed the scoring with an 8-yard run with 6:23 left to play.
“We kind of struggled there a little bit,” Heard said. “We kind of found our groove later in the game somewhere around the middle of the third quarter. I thought our fullback started to run the ball really hard. Of course Jakobe has had some explosive runs.
“Defense did what they needed to do. It wasn’t always pretty but they did what they needed to do to stop them tonight. We needed a win in a bad kind of way. It just feels good to get that win tonight.”
Minden hosts Northwood Friday. The Falcons (2-4, 2-1) lost to Evangel Christian 40-21 Friday night.