Football: Moody 14, Hayden 13

Published 10:56 pm Friday, September 14, 2012

Hayden lost its second game in a row by a single point, as Moody won 14-13 Friday night.

The Wildcats had their chances in the second half, having three scoring oppontunites but coming up empty each time.

Moody opened the scoring on an 8-yard pass from Michael Barron to Doug Barns. After forcing a Hayden punt the Blue Devils wasted little time in scoring, this time Dee Williams scampered in from seven yards out. With 2:20 still left in the first quarter, Moody was up 14-0.

Hayden would find paydirt on their next possession when quarterback Corey hit wide receiver Luke Wall for 20 yards and a score. Dylan Putnam’s point after cut the lead to 14-7 with 10:07 remaining in the first half.

Hayden linebacker Houson Stewart intercepted a Devils pass to set up the next score for the Cats. The Ward to Wall connection worked perfectly for 43 yards and a score.

But on the extra-point attempt, Ward — the usual holder — was forced out of the game by the officials fo rhaving blood on his uniform. The ensuing Putname kick was too low. Hayden had cut the lead to 14-13 with 3:43 remaining in the half.

On their first possession after halftime, Hayden drove 95 yards for an apparent score, but a penalty nullified the touchdown. Three plays later the Cats missed on a 35-yard field goal attempt.

After the teams swapped punts, Hayden drove again and went for the touchdown on fourth-and-one, but was denied with 4:33 remaining in the game. But the Hayden defense, which played well all night, forced another Moody punt.

The Cats got the ball with exactly two minutes to got and 86 yards to the goal line. Ward completed 5 of 7 passes, including a spike, to get the ball to the 10 yard line. His passes were to Parker Sims for 15 yards, Wall for 17 and 21and Presley Niblett for 10 and 14.

The Cats stopped the clock with six tenths of a second left to set up a Putnam field goal attempt from 27 yards, but the kick missed as time expired.

Hayden’s leading reciever was Wall with 187 yards on nine catches, including both touchdowns. Niblett added seven catches for 79 yards. Ward finished the night 22-for-41 passing with one interception and 332 yards.

The loss drops Hayden to 0-3, 0-2 in region play. Next week the Cats will host sixth-ranked Pinson Valley.