Friday’s final home football game was troubling for Albany fans, ending with cross-town rival Saint Mary’s beating the Cougars 41-21. The game was characterized by a long series of penalties on the Cougars and a shaky performance by both the defense and offense in the first half.
The opening half was almost painful for fans who had to watch the Cougars go scoreless, while letting the Panthers rack up 28 points from two touchdowns in each quarter.
The Cougars’ defense looked sloppy and unorganized for most of the first half.
Equally disappointing was an offense that just couldn’t pull it together to score a touchdown. “The whole team just wasn’t clicking for the entire first half,” said senior quarterback Kyle Tannahill.
The Cougars surprised fans in the second half as they looked hungry for redemption.
The second-half passing and running games opened up with senior running back Kyle Moore starting the scoring with a 39-yard touchdown on a sweep, a bread and butter Cougar play.
Moore pulled through once again inside the red zone with a 6-yard run, followed by a failed PAT making the score 35-13.
Proving that Moore wasn’t the only one with a touchdown dance, senior wide receiver Sebastian Lefour entered the end zone on a four-yard bullet by Tannahill, followed by a successful two-point conversion.
“I felt like we all just started off slow but quickly players starting feeling more confident and comfortable in the second half,” respond Moore.
The defense also tightened up only allowing the Panthers to only score twice in the half.
Despite the strong second half where Cougars outscored the Panthers, the Cougars record dropped to 2-7. Come show support for the 2012 seniors as the Cougars close the season at St. Patrick/ St. Vincent at 7:00 p.m. on Friday November 11.
