Featured photo by Douglas Blow
Through the first four games, the Minden Crimson Tide didn’t have to rely on the pass very much.
That changed somewhat Friday night during their homecoming game against the Loyola College Prep Flyers at The Pit.
Junior quarterback Hudson Brown completed three passes for first down on fourth-down situations in a 28-13 District 1-4A victory.
Minden improved to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in district. Loyola dropped to 3-2 and 1-1 and had a three-game winning streak snapped.
Brown finished 9-of-12 for 92 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions.
The night did not start well for the home team. On the game’s first play, Loyola quarterback Bryce Restovich hit a wide-open Bennett Brewer for an 80-yard touchdown. That was all the scoring in the quarter.
“We had to calm ourselves after that,” Minden Head Coach Spencer Heard said. “I thought Hudson played a lot better. They gave us a little trouble in the run game. But I thought we complemented our run really well tonight with the thows he was making.”
Minden tied the game early in the second on a 32-yard pass from Brown to Brayden Britton. Britton caught the pass at about the 15, made a move and broke several tackles en route to the end zone.
“Looked like he made about 20 people miss,” Heard said. Braxton Glover’s PAT made it 7-7.
The Tide had another scoring opportunity midway through the quarter but missed a 45-yard field goal attempt. However, that figured into Minden’s second touchdown.
Loyola had an 80-yard screen pass erased by a penalty. The Flyers got another penalty then the Tide got a sack.
Minden took over on the Flyers 31 after the punt. On fourth-and-10, Brown completed an 11-yard pass for a first down at the 20.
With 23 seconds left, Caylien Aubrey scored from 3 yards out.
The Tide took the second-half kickoff and drove 78 yards for a touchdown. Minden got a break on fourth-and-6 from the Loyola 31. The Flyers sacked Brown but they were penalized for a personal foul.
Crowe eventually scored on a 1-yard run, putting the Tide up 21-7. The 13-play drive took up more than half the quarter.
Loyola answered with a long drive and Minden went into the final quarter leading 21-13 after blocking the extra-point kick.
The Tide proceeded to go on another 13-play touchdown drive that took 6:50 off the clock. A Brown pass on fourth-and-3 kept it alive. The Tide had a touchdown called back but eventually scored on a 7-yard run by Lucas Owens Jr. with 6:30 left in the game.
“That first drive when we came out in the second half was huge for us from the standpoint of scoring but also eating up a lot of the third quarter,” Heard said. “They did go down and score. And then we got it back and ate up a lot more time and they didn’t have enough time in the end to come back.”
The Minden defense then came up with two big turnovers, interceptions by Jaylon McKinney and Kamron Harris, late in the fourth.
Minden had the ball for 34 minutes, 50 seconds to Loyola’s 13:10.
The Tide had 179 yards rushing on 50 attempts. Aubrey led the team with 65 yards on 15 carries, per stats kept for the KASO/KBEF radio/web broadcast.
Owens had 14 for 52, Crowe 10 for 32 and Porter Neal 4-22.
Minden receivers came up with some big catches. Jaxon Smith had four for 42 yards and Mikey Shepherd had two for 17.
The Minden defense had another solid effort. They allowed just 46 yards rushing. Restovich passed for 202, but 80 of that came on the first play.
Minden visits defending champion North DeSoto Friday. The Griffins pulled out a 20-14 victory over Booker T. Washington Friday night.