Whatever Coach David Barnes and the rest of his coaching staff said at halftime Friday night, they might want to consider bottling it up and saving it for a day down the road. After trailing Union County at the half, the Tigers exploded for 33 unanswered points in the second half on their way to a 40-14 win over the Union County Braves on Homecoming Night at Tiger Stadium.
It was not quite as easy as the final score would indicate. The Tigers trailed 14-7 at the half, and had committed four turnovers, a fumble and three interceptions.
Union County took the opening kickoff, chewed up nearly six minutes, and came up empty. The Tigers came right down the field on their first possession and found the endzone on a five yard touchdown pass from Joby Jaggers to Oliver Parker with 3:22 to go in the first to make it 7-0.
The Braves evened things up on the opening play of the 2nd quarter when they ripped off a 42 yard run to tie the game at 7-7. The game stayed that way until the final minute of the first half, when the Braves hit paydirt on a 28 yard pass to make it a 14-7 lead at the break.
The Tigers had problems with ball security in the first half, as they gave the ball away four times on a fumble and three interceptions. Caldwell County also appeared to be a little flat on both sides of the ball.
Then came the second half. Caldwell County took the second half kickoff and quickly went down the field, scoring when Joby Jaggers hit Travis Newsom for a 42 yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 14-14.
Later in the quarter, Jaggers and Newsom teamed up again, this time for an 18 yard touchdown pass to make it a 21-14 Caldwell County lead. Following a Union County fumble, the Tigers were right back in the end zone when Jaggers fired his 4th touchdown pass of the night, this one a 16 yard strike to Oliver Parker to make it 27-14 with 1:34 to go in the third quarter.
The Tiger offense kept up its assault in the 4th quarter. With 7:35 to go in the game, Jaggers hit Newsom for the third time, this one from 8 yards out to extend the lead to 33-14. Jaggers then threw his 6th touchdown pass of the night, his third to Oliver Parker, this one good for 40 yards to push the lead to 40-14, which is where the game would end.
The win was the 4th in a row for Caldwell County, which improves to 5-2 overall and 2-0 in district play.
Union County falls to 4-2 overall and goes 0-1 in district play.
