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BY DAN SMITH

Tied at 14-14 in the fourth quarter, Luverne’s Elliott Harris scored on a 4-yard touchdown carry to lead the visiting Tigers to a 22-14 win over Pike Liberal Arts Friday night at Delaney Kervin Stadium in Troy.

PLAS traded blow-for-blow against the storied program of Luverne, before the Tigers found a way to put the game away in the final minutes.

The Patriots and Tigers were equal in most aspects offensively and defensively for three quarters, but 65 yards in penalties and three turnovers were too much for Pike ultimately to overcome.

“It is hard to find any positives right now – the kids fought hard – but penalties killed us,” said PLAS Head Coach William Moguel. “We had 65 yards in penalties and I told them, against a good team that would catch up with us, and it did. I’m not taking anything away from Luverne, because they have a good football team. They play old-school-football and come right at you, and that kind of wore us down a little bit.”

The visiting Tigers are 1-2 now on the young season with the Class 2A, Region victory, while PLAS is now 2-1.

Luverne took the opening possession of the contest and churned out a scoring drive on the ground only, with Alijah Hurst taking it in from 10-yards out, Elliot Harris bulled in for the two-point conversion, and it was 8-0 Luverne.

Pike was unfazed, as they wasted no time driving down the field, with Dalton Jordan taking it in on a 1-yard carry, Sawyer Keck added the extra point, cutting the lead to 8-7 still in the first quarter.

The Tigers scored again on their next series, with Harris crossing the goal line from 1-yard out, but the try for two failed, and it was 14-7.

The Patriots again answered with a score on their next possession in the early minutes of the second quarter, when a 10-yard pass from Dawson Bradford to Jackson Mitchell tied the score at 14-14, following the extra point by Keck.

Both defenses kept each other out of the end zone until the fourth quarter, when Luverne scored on an 11-play drive, resulting in 4-yard rushing touchdown by Harris, and the 2-point conversion by Hurst was good for the 22-14 lead.

The Patriots had two more possessions in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, but the Luverne defense held strong for the 22-14 final.

PLAS had 157 yards of total offense, 77 rushing and 80 passing, while Luverne had 209 total yards, all on the ground.

Dalton Jordan was the leading rusher for Pike with 85 yards on 20 attempts and one touchdown.

Bradford had 80 yards passing on the evening, with Jackson Mitchell pulling in three receptions for all 80 of those yards, including one TD.

Pruitt Vaughn and Kade Brookins each had 10 tackles to pace the Patriot defense, Rhodes Baker had nine, while Michael Vaughan and Jackson Booth had five apiece.

Luverne Head Coach Bobby Hudson, in his first season, was pleased with his team’s fight, and was equally impressed with Pike.

“We had a bye week last week, we cleaned up some things, but our defense stepped up tonight,” said Coach Hudson. “To get a second-half shutout was huge for our team. PLAS was 2-0 coming into tonight, they are very well coached, they did things right, but we won the turnover battle in the end. That is the biggest key in football, is the turnover differential.”

PLAS travels to Barbour County next week, while Luverne is at Zion Chapel.