Hound Dogs Drop Finale to Copperheads
[This is a fictional sports article. Game results and stats were generated by Pro Strategy Football software.]
Memphis, Tennessee - Going into their regular season finale against the North Carolina Copperheads, the Hound Dogs needed to win by 25 to get into the USA Football League playoffs. In the fourth quarter, they had seven of those points with a 16-9 lead, but the Copperheads rallied for two touchdowns for a 23-16 win.
The win clinched second place in the Southeast Division for North Carolina (10-2) and qualified for the playoffs while Tennessee (8-4) falls short, and their season is over.
The Hound Dogs once again had offensive woes. With only 48 yards rushing and quarterback Rich Lewis passing only 12-for-22 attempts, they continued to struggle.
"It's been frustrating," said head coach Colton Preston. "We couldn't seem to get it going again this week either. We needed the offense we had earlier in the season if we were to have any chance in this game."
North Carolina had their own offensive struggles early as kicker Mark Fusco had field goals from 23 and 50 yards as their only offense to take a 6-0 lead. David Coutee got the Hound Dogs on the scoreboard with a 49-yard field goal to cut the Copperhead's lead to 6-3 with 2:04 left in the second quarter.
The Hound Dogs' defense forced a fumble late in the quarter with 10 seconds left at the North Carolina 47. On the next play, Lewis found Patrick Klein in the middle of the field for a touchdown pass to give the Hound Dogs a surprising 10-6 lead at halftime.
The game became a defensive struggle in the third quarter. The Hound Dogs stopped the Copperheads on a third-and-inches on their first drive of the half to force another field goal by Fusco to pull within 10-9. The Hound Dogs answered with a season long 61-yard field goal by Coutee to extend the lead to 13-9. Coutee's third field goal early in the fourth quarter gave the Hound Dogs a 16-9 lead.
"We were all doing the math," Preston said. "We needed 18 more points, but we needed to get some stops to have a chance."
The Copperheads ruined those chances as they took the next possession on a 10-play, 77-yard drive with two key third down conversions on the possession. Quarterback Thomas Ballage escaped a heavy pass rush to find Keith Bibbs for a 27-yard touchdown pass. Fusco's extra point tied up the game at 16. The Copperheads got most of their rushing yards in the final quarter as Darnell Glasgow had 130 yards rushing in the game and scored his only touchdown on an eight-yard run to break the tie to take a 23-16 lead with 1:45 left.
Tennessee failed on four downs to advance the ball as the offense failed to get in position to tie up the game.
"We just didn't get it done," said Lewis. "We struggled and I struggled. I hate it. I really wanted us to finish strong."
After starting the season 4-0 and averaging 32 points per game, the Hound Dogs finished 4-4 the rest of the way and a woeful 18 points per game.
General Manager Ronald Oliver expressed his disappointment in missing the playoffs and pointed to changes.
"I don't know what we need to do. We will have to evaluate everything and make some changes. Whether it is a coaching change, player change or whatever we need to do to turn things back into a positive direction next season. It's too much to think about now but I assure you we won't sit on our hands."
Scoring Summary:
1st QuarterNC - Mark Fusco 23-yard field goal
NC 3, TN 0
2nd Quarter
NC - Fusco 50-yard field goal
NC 6, TN 0
TN - David Coutee 49-yard field goal
NC 6, TN 3
TN - Patrick Klein 47-yard pass from Richard Lewis (Coutee kick)
TN 10, NC 6
3rd Quarter
NC - Fusco 45-yard field goal
TN 10, NC 9
TN - Coutee 61-yard field goal
TN 13, NC 9
4th Quarter
TN - Coutee 44-yard field goal
TN 16, NC 9
NC - Keith Bibbs 27-yard pass from Thomas Ballage (Fusco kick)
NC 16, TN 16
NC - Darnell Glasgow 8-yard run (Fusco kick)
NC 23, TN 16
Southeast Division Standings
- Alabama Hammers (12-0)
- North Carolina Copperheads (10-2)
- Tennessee Hound Dogs (8-4)
- Florida Tarpons (6-6)
- South Carolina Skyhawks (3-8-1)
- Georgia Thrashers (1-11)
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