For the first time since 2016, the Minden Crimson Tide are 1-0.
In a wild season opener Friday night, Minden defeated Mansfield 34-33 in Mansfield. The game went to two overtimes. The Tide stopped a two-point conversion attempt in the second one to claim the victory.
“It was a great high school football game,” Minden Head Coach Spencer Heard said. “I don’t think you’re going to see a better one.”
After taking a 21-13 lead with 9:03 left in the fourth quarter on Denarius Crowe’s 3-yard run and Braxton Glover’s third PAT, Minden ended up having to rally.
Mansfield tied it at 21 on a 58-yard double pass to Terrell Pegues followed by a two-point conversion with 5:21 left. Two plays later, Pegues intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown. Minden stopped a two-point conversion attempt and the Wolverines led 27-21 with 4:41 left.
Heard was impressed by Pegues, who rarely came out of the game.
“Their number 9 is an incredible player,” he said.. “He was all over the place.”
With the game on the line, the Tide drove 80 yards for a touchdown to tie it at 27. Porter Neal scored on a 27-yard run with 1:20 left, but the extra-point kick was missed.
Lucas Owens Jr. had a big gain on a screen pass from Hudson Brown. Kaiden Shine, Crowe and Caylien Aubrey also contributed on the drive. The Wolverines were penalized for pass interference just before Neal’s TD.
Mansfield moved into Minden territory but was pushed back and badly missed a long field goal attempt on the final play of regulation.
The Tide had a chance to win in the first overtime after stopping Mansfield. But an interception on third-and-goal from the 9 sent it to a second overtime.
Minden went on offense first. Owens carried three times to the 1 and Brown pushed his way into the end zone on fourth down. Bryson Ranger kicked the PAT.
Mansfield then had its turn. Pegues carried three times. On fourth down from the 2, it appeared quarterback Sharmal Booker was stopped short of the end zone. Minden players began celebrating the apparent victory.
But after some discussion officials determined that it was a touchdown. Attempting a two-point conversion for the win, the Wolverines were penalized back to the 8 for a false start. But this time a pass by Booker off a reverse fell incomplete.
“The secondary came up big in the end and made a play,” Heard said. “It was kind of the same thing they scored on earlier and the secondary made a good play on it.”
The Tide took an early 14-0 lead. Crowe scored the first TD on a 35-yard run late in the first quarter. Neal scored the second on a 10-yard run with 7:46 left in the second.
But Mansfield rallied and cut the lead to 14-13 by the half. Booker hit Kelvin Jackson for a 70-yard touchdown. With just 25 seconds left in the half, Booker completed a 10-yard pass to Jakorion Greer.
“We kind of had them in a bind right there and had a third and long and they ended up scoring on a long touchdown, actually busted coverage,” Heard said. “Ended up getting another one before half. Basically the same situation.
“We came back in the second half, kind of regrouped, stayed the course and got after it. It was kind of a back-and-fourth type of thing.”
The Tide had a chance to extend the lead on their first possession of the half. But the drive stalled and a 41-yard field goal attempt missed.
Minden finished with 288 yards rushing on 46 attempts, according to stats compiled for the KASO/KBEF radio broadcast.
Crowe, a former offensive lineman, led the Tide with 93 yards on 10 carries. His picked up a lot of the yardage on Minden’s drive to the 21-13 lead.
Aubrey gained 91 yards on 12 carries. Neal had 51 on six, Owens 43 on 11 and Shine 32 on two.
“I thought they all did really well,” Heard said. “I’m proud of the way they carried the ball. The offensive line did a great job. I thought Hudson did a great job of managing everything.”
Owens, a freshman, also had two catches for 58 yards. With the running game so effective, Minden put the ball in the air only nine times.
Mansfield had 295 total yards, but 128 of those came on the two big pass plays.
Minden faces Homer in its home opener Friday. The Class 2A Pelicans fell to Class 5A Haughton 48-46 in their season opener.