Lions beat the Mudcats

[rkb]

First of all, hats off to the Columbus Defense for a strong game. They pressured the QB all game. The Lions DB played tight all night.

That being said, the officiating was horrid all night, BOTH WAYS. Way too many no calls. From where I was sitting I saw 3 defensive pass interference no-calls on Columbus. On one play the db had a firm grip on the reciever's jersey. No big deal, I am sure there was a lot going on the other direction as well.

The final 45 seconds of the game ruined a great win for Columbus. Columbusran a third down and lost a yard. The clock ran down at least 7 seconds before the refs stopped the clock. After a missed FG the Mudcats took over with around 30 secs left. Jones threw a pass to Josh Smith who tried to get to the boards. He was knocked around, went down to a knee, and dropped the ball. The ref's gave the ball to Columbus. A very bad call. It may not have made a difference in the game, but taking the game out of the hands of the players in that situation is never a good thing.

Oh well. Congrats to the Lions. You played a tough game tonight.

[cavfan]

Sounds like a tough loss to handle and a good game by the players and another crappy one done by the refs.

[tnt44]

I thought the refs were really bad in the game last week as well, so I guess things evened out.

[mississippimudcat1]

The Lions played great. They deserved to win, but the Mudcats did have a chance in the closing seconds till the bad call. I would also like to know what happened to the last 3 seconds of the game. The reffs just let it go.

But hey, the Lions did deserve the win and our players played hard. We could very likely see you guys down the road.
:smileymudcats: :smileymudcats: :smileymudcats:

[lionsroar]

The announcers for the Lions said they ended it due to the brawl on the field!

..........I wish I could have made this one!

13 points was the difference between Augausta and columbus in 2 games
14 points was the difference between Mississipi and columbus in 2 games

what a division! Guess we'll see you guys back in Tupelo cos I don't see you losing again in the regular season (we'll just see what happens in the play-offs without speculation)

[rkb]

It wasn't much of a brawl honestly. It was about to get very nasty until coaches jumped in the middle. And to be honest from where I was sitting it appeared to be started by Columbus. Two Mudcats players were thrown to the turf after the whistle (no flags) which brought other defenders into the scuffle. A Columbus helmet got thrown to the other end of the field (no flag). The refs were losing control and decided not to call the penalties so the game was done.

The players were not allowed to come back out to meet with fans after the game. I think it might have been because of the idiot that jumped the wall trying to get to the refs as time expired. That was dumb!

I agree that Columbus deserved the win. They outplayed the Mudcats. This is a heck of a division! I look forward to the rubber match! I hope the refs don't ruin the game next time.

[mississippimudcat1]

May 18, 2008 10:06:51 GMT -5 lionsroar said:

The announcers for the Lions said they ended it due to the brawl on the field!

..........I wish I could have made this one!

13 points was the difference between Augausta and columbus in 2 games
14 points was the difference between Mississipi and columbus in 2 games

what a division! Guess we'll see you guys back in Tupelo cos I don't see you losing again in the regular season (we'll just see what happens in the play-offs without speculation)

Yeah, I had a feeling it was because of the brawl. After every game-even after a win-I feel like the refs were horrible. I wish the AIFA could get better ones, but like I said you guys won anyway so aint nothing I can do about it.

[rkb]

www.djournal.com/pages/story.asp?ID=273601&pub=1&div=Sports

Unbeaten no more: MudCats lose rematch
5/18/2008 7:11:55 AM
Daily Journal




BY JOHN L. PITTS
Daily Journal


TUPELO - The Mississippi MudCats finally ran out of home field magic.


After 14 wins over the past two seasons at BancorpSouth Arena, the MudCats lost 53-48 to the Columbus Lions, a week after beating them by nine points on the road.


"They're a talented, well-coached team," a somber MudCats coach Brian Brents said, after watching his team lose for the first time in nine games this season. "The good teams learn from an experience like this and we'll get right back to work to bounce back from this."


It looked like the home team might have caught a break when the starting quarterback for Columbus left with an injury late in the third quarter. But backup QB Maurice Mullins came on to lead a pair of fourth-quarter scoring drives to secure the win.


Last week in Columbus, the MudCats topped the Lions 70-61.


"To come in here and hold them to 48 points feels good, especially after giving up 70 a week ago," said Lions head coach Jason Gibson, who watched his team survive three turnovers, some untimely penalties and an injury to starting QB Joey Conrad, who threw for two touchdowns and ran for another.


"We have a lot of confidence in all three of our quarterbacks," Gibson said.


The MudCats are on the road for four of their last five regular-season games, including two trips to Augusta - starting with a trip there on Friday.


Conrad went out with his team clinging to a 40-36 lead late in the third quarter. On his first play, Mullins lofted a perfect floater to Tirone Morris, who snagged it at the goal line for his third TD of the night.


On the Lions' next series, after a MudCats TD made it 47-42, Mullins directed a quick four-play drive, aided by two penalities against the home team. Mullins ran it in on a 7-yard bootleg.


Late in the game, rookie Anthony Merritt atoned for his earlier fumble with a zig-zag run on second down that gained 17 yards and helped keep alive a drive that ended with a missed field goal - and just 29 seconds on the clock.


Not enough for the home team, which fumbled on its second play to end it, disappointing the crowd of 2,757.


For only the third time this season, the MudCats trailed (33-29) at halftime.


The lead changed hands four times in a wild second quarter.


The home team took its first lead on Eric Bingham's 25-yard return of a Conrad fumble, but Columbus scored the last nine points of the first half on a 2-yard run by Merritt -a standout at the University of North Alabama - and Hunter Smith's second 48-yard field goal of the quarter, as the buzzer sounded.

Appeared originally in the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, 5/18/2008, section B , page 1