Technically, there is no update since Quincy didn't play...
But the Abilene Ruff Riders ((pictured, thanks Thomas Metthe/Abilene Reporter-News))still played...
((HT: Abilene Reporter-News/Youngblood))
Trailing by five after Corpus Christi scored with 3:27 to play Saturday, quarterback David Bowie and the Abilene Ruff Riders had a shot to send 4,008 fans home with a dramatic win.
But the Riders' comeback bid ended at the Hammerheads 21 yard line on an incomplete pass on fourth and 7, leaving the Ruff Riders with a 27-22 loss at Taylor County Coliseum.
The defeat prevented Abilene from sweeping three games with its Lone Star Division rival and gave the Riders two losses in the division. Second-place El Paso had two losses going into this weekend's action.
After having his third interception wiped out by a Corpus Christi facemask and a 16-yard scramble to the Hammerheads 6 erased by a holding penalty on back-to-back plays, Bowie and the Riders offense faced a 1st-and-20 from their own 16 with less than three minutes remaining, needing a touchdown to take the lead.
Bowie hit running back Carlos Alsup with an underhand toss for eight yards on first down but after a penalty on the Hammerheads, Bowie missed on his last three pass attempts, giving the ball back to Corpus to run out the clock.
"We had penalties, I had two costly turnovers and I had a couple of bad balls that should have been completed," said Bowie, who finished his first start 9-of-22 passing for 111 yards and a pair of touchdowns. "As a QB you dream about stuff like this, having the ball in your hands on the final drive with a chance to win the game. But I didn't get it done tonight, and that hurts."
Abilene's offensive struggles proved to be the difference. The Riders were outgained 214-154 and went 0-for-7 on third downs.
Abilene, which was playing without starting quarterback Quincy Carter, converted just two of its nine possessions into touchdowns, picking up its other nine points on Nich Pertuit field goals of 44, 38 and 22 yards.
"You've got to put points on the board to win, and our offense really struggled," Riders coach Gerald Dockery said. "When your defense gives up 27 points, you expect to win in this game. We had chances to gain the momentum, but we could never seem to make the plays we needed offensively."
Despite scoring a season-low 22 points, the Riders had many chances to beat the last-place Hammerheads and actually led for most of the contest.
Thanks to a strong defensive performance, the Riders held a lead for nearly the entire first half until the Hammerheads scored with a second remaining in the second quarter to take a 13-10 lead. And after regaining the lead in the third quarter, Abilene was either ahead or tied until Corpus scored their final touchdown with 3:27 to play.
"I can't say anything bad about the defense," Bowie said. "The defense was on, and the offense didn't capitalize when the defense made stops."
Abilene scored the first points of the game -- the only points of the quarter -- on a 19-yard reception by Fred Howze from Bowie with 15 seconds.
Corpus Christi answered on its second drive of the second quarter with a Austin Willis 20-yard reception, but a missed an extra point left the score 7-6 in favor of Abilene.
The Riders added to their lead with a 44-yard field goal by Pertuit with 3:14 left in the half, but the Hammerheads scored on the final play from scrimmage in the first half when Redford Borel ran it in from one yard out on fourth and goal.
Abilene regained the lead early in the third, when Bowie hooked up with Juan Reese from 11 yards out, making the score 16-13 with 13:35 left in the third quarter.
But that was the Riders' final touchdown of the game. A turnover, 72 yards of penalty yardage and struggles on third downs by Abilene kept Corpus Christi in the game, and the Hammerheads sandwiched a pair of Toric Goins touchdown catches around Pertuit's third field goal to turn a 19-13 deficit into a 27-22 lead.
"It is what it is," Dockery said. "We hurt ourselves with turnovers and penalties. We've got to play smarter on offense and take care of the ball. We've got to minimize mistakes."
The loss pushes Abilene down to 5-4 on the season and 5-2 in conference play going into a bye week.
"With this bye week coming up, we're going to correct some of these things we did wrong tonight," Dockery said.
Here's your highlights, thanks to our friends at ARN-TV and 96.1 The Wolf
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