david@wkyk.comThe struggle to erase mistakes and find a defensive identity continued this week for the Cougar varsity football team in a 55-28 loss at Owen on Friday night.
Heritage (1-5, 0-3) fell behind 21-0 early to Owen (4-3, 3-0) and was never able to recover as couple of turnovers and a defense that gave up 527 total yards to the Warhorses made a comeback nearly impossible.
The Cougars lack of defensive prowess put pressure on the Heritage offense to score each time it got the ball.
Owen took just five plays to move 73 yards to post a 7-0 lead over the Cougars before the Heritage fans had a chance to even settle into their seats.
The Cougars went to work on their initial hold on the football, moving from the 43 yard line following a good kickoff return by Drew Hoilman.
Heritage, behind the passing/receiving combo of Trevor Robinson and Zack Brown and the rushing efforts of Lucas King and Dalton Robinson, moved all the way to the Owen 6 yard line before the drive stalled with an incomplete pass on 4th down.
Owen quickly seized the moment and moved 94 yards in six plays to extend their lead to 14-0 with 3:02 to play in the first quarter.
Heritage picked up a first down on the ensuing drive on a pass from Robinson to Daulton Buchanan inside Owen territory, but a flag negated the pickup and the Cougars were forced to punt.
Owen was pinned inside the twenty following the kick but on first down Warhorse running back Cole Leighton sprinted 82 yards for another Owen TD and a 21-0 lead.
In spite of the adversity the Cougars continued to play hard and were able to reach the end zone. Using the run and the pass, Heritage moved 73 yards in 13 plays to score on a two yard run by Lucas King. Dalton Robinson had a couple of big runs on the drive and Robinson hooked up with King for a key first down to keep the scoring march alive.
Trailing by 14 with nearly eight minutes left until halftime it looked like Heritage was going to make a game of it. But once again the Warhorses ran away from the visiting Cougars, scoring the next two touchdowns to enjoy a comfortable 35-7 lead at the half.
Heritage drew first blood in the second half when Trevor Robinson spotted Lucas King open for a 25 yard touchdown on the Cougar’s opening drive of the third quarter.
MHHS would add more points in the 4th on a Colby Presnell five yard run and two point conversion run by Trevor Robinson, and six yard touchdown run by Dalton Robinson, who finished with a team high 148 yards rushing on 19 carries. But they couldn’t keep pace with the Warhorse machine.
The Cougars finished with 394 total yards with 310 of those coming on the ground as Trevor Robinson did well with 91 yards on 21 carries and also threw for another 84 yards passing, completing 9 of 22 attempts.
This week the Cougars will entertain upstart Thomas Jefferson (6-1, 2-1) in the annual Homecoming game. The Gryphons fell 18-8 to Madison this past week .
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