| Play not pretty, but final total is, for Fulton City | By: By KENNETH COKER, Messenger Sports Reporter
| Posted: Monday, November 10, 2008 3:59 pm
| 
Fulton City’s Jacquise Lockett runs for a touchdown during his team’s victory at Reidland on Friday. | | | It wasn’t pretty, but for Fulton City it’ll do.
The Bulldogs fumbled the football on eight occasions and were penalized 11 times for 90 yards, but somehow they still came out on top 32-26 at Reidland on Friday.
The victory snaps a five-game losing streak for FC and they did it without starting quarterback Aaron Wilson, who did not play because of the high ankle sprain that he suffered against Lone Oak.
Running back Jacquise Lockett had to carry the full load as he rushed for all five of Fulton City’s touchdowns and he totaled an astounding 380 yards on 32 carries.
The latest total puts Lockett at a clip of 1,249 yards in nine games this season as the Bulldogs now prepare for an opening round matchup in the KHSAA Class A playoffs — with Wilson doubtful for that game according to his coach — this week at Holy Cross in Louisville.
“We came into this game as a rag-tag team and somehow we got the win,” FC head coach Wayne Lohaus said after the game. “With our starting quarterback out, our handoffs weren’t as crisp as we hoped they would be, but Jacquise (Lockett) still stepped up his game and he more than made up for the absence of Aaron (Wilson) with, by far, his best game of the season.”
Indeed, it was easily Lockett’s best outing of the year and he didn’t wait long to make his mark for Fulton City.
After a fumble by Greyhounds’ quarterback Ryan Heinrich, the Bulldogs began their first drive at their own 29-yard-line.
From there, Lockett had two carries for 13 yards, but then he was taken down for a loss of 10 on his third rush of the evening.
With a third-and-20 situation, Lockett shed what could have been a scapegoat moniker had the drive fizzled as he sprinted 62 yards to paydirt to give Fulton City (3-6) a 6-0 lead that it would hold through the midway point of the second quarter.
At that time, Reidland (1-9) forced Friday’s FC signal-caller Demarquis Young to cough up the pigskin at his own 22. Then, on the second play of the Greyhounds’ ensuing series, Heinrich was forced out of the pocket, but he didn’t panic.
Instead, he scampered 20 yards into the endzone to put the Greyhounds up 7-6 advantage.
In all, Reidland held the advantage for just under three minutes as Fulton City used much of that time to move down the field on an eight-play, 60-yard march that ended when Lockett dove in from an inch out.
The highlight of the aforementioned drive was probably not Lockett’s TD dive, but instead a 33-yard toss from Young to Cody Taylor that put FC at the home team’s 25-yard-line.
During the third quarter, Lockett enlarged Fulton City’s advantage to two possessions as he dashed 60 yards to the endzone at the 7:46 mark. Andre Glass bulled in for the two-point conversion as FC held a 20-7 lead.
However, the Greyhounds still had a bit of fight in them as they rushed back and tied the lead in the third canto — albeit briefly.
To put the wheels in motion for Reidland, Heinrich dove in from a yard out with 45 seconds remaining.
Then, Carlos Rayburn returned an onside kick that he scooped up 35 yards to paydirt on the ensuing boot to tie the game at 20-all.
Lockett had an answer, though, as he motored 68 yards on the first play of the next drive to put Fulton back ahead 26-20.
The fourth quarter was sloppy at best as Reidland fumbled and lost the football three times and FC had a punt blocked and a turnover on downs — both due to high snaps to Lorenzo Ruiz on fourth down booting attempts.
Still, Lockett did manage to give the few Fulton City faithful one last thing to cheer about as he dashed up the middle for a 29-yard touchdown that proved to be the decider with 3:55 remaining in the game.
In the final two minutes, the Greyhounds scored a touchdown and they even got the ball back with near 15 seconds left, but Heinrich’s last-ditch effort pass at the buzzer was picked off by Taylor.
Sports reporter Kenneth Coker can be contacted by e-mail at kcoker@ucmessenger.com. | | | | |
