While the Collierville Dragons opened the 2006 campaign with a hard-fought Region 8-5A victory over the Hamilton Wildcats 26-12, not everything went as planned.
A hard steady rain that began during pre-game warm-ups not only soaked the players and coaches but also the fans that were forced to stand in line at the only entrance to Fairgrounds stadium.
The rain and then humid conditions played havoc with both teams and it took most of the first quarter for either team to find any kind of rhythm. The speed of the game was slowed by both penalties and injury timeouts for cramps that were mostly suffered by Hamilton players.
“I thought that the entire pace of the game got thrown off completely by the cramping,” explained Dragon head coach Paul Cox.
“For a hot, humid, zero week game, it was probably more of what you would expect but I think that it was a good game to learn from.”
The Wildcats (0-1) took the lead when Jermikeo Malone plowed in from two yards out but the extra point was blocked by a diving Tom Nelson to leave the lead at 6-0 midway through the second quarter.
The score was set up when Hamilton quarterback Nathan Hawkins hooked up with receiver Jimmy Walker for the game’s first big play, a 67-yard pass and catch in which Walker broke more than a few tackles before being brought down at the Dragon 16-yard line.
Collierville got a big play of its own to setup its first score of the second half when Al Burriss blocked a Hamilton punt a returned it to the one yard line. Jason Goins’ 1-yard touchdown plunge allowed the Dragons to take a commanding 17-6 lead.
Hamilton quarterback Nathan Hawkins threw a touchdown pass that pulled his team to within 17-12 on their next drive but it would be the Wildcats final points.
After a Jeremy Adair a 31-yard field goal, the Dragons defense shut down Hamilton and when Eric Burrus scored on a 10-yard run with just under 10 minutes remaining the Dragons had a comfortable 14 point lead.
Collierville (1-0) got its first score of the game when Dragon quarterback Derek Pacileo threw a screen pass to Zack Palmer who took off on a 72-yard scamper that ended in the Hamilton end zone. Adair knocked thru the extra point to give Collierville the 7-6 lead.
Pacileo completed 5 of 17 passes for 102 yards in his first varsity start.
“We made some big plays but we made some mistakes also,” remarked Cox in summing up the game.
“The turnovers (the Dragons had four) that was the main thing and we have to cut that out. I don’t even want to think about [the turnovers]; there were more than we usually have.”
Adair, who missed a field goal earlier in the game, came through just before the half when he booted a 34-yard field goal that gave the Dragons a four point lead at the break. He also put most of his kickoffs into the end zone negating the Wildcats a chance for a return.
“The kicking game was excellent. Jeremy Adair stepped up and did a great job,” Cox said of the soccer player turned place-kicker.
he Dragons will play their home opener on August 25 against Central High at 7:00.
