Ryan Guthery for The Cullman Tribune
LYNN – The Lynn Bears hosted the Meek Tigers in a critical region game Friday night and the Bears came out victorious, 20-16, in a back-and-forth, tightly contested game.
Meek was stopped on fourth down on the opening drive of the game, and the Bears wasted no time scoring, finding the end zone through the air to go up 6-0 with 3:55 left in the opening quarter. Meek answered right back on the third play of the drive when Stuart Waldrep found Caleb Aaron streaking up the sideline, and 53 yards later, the Tigers gained an 8-6 lead with 2:48 left in the first quarter. The ensuing kickoff was picked up at the 1-yard line by the Bears, but they were unable to get it out of the end zone resulting in a safety, stretching the Tiger lead to 10-6.
On the first play of the second quarter, Lynn regained the lead on a 36-yard touchdown pass and went up 12-10 with 11:52 remaining in the half. Once again Meek struck quickly, this time with a 40-yard touchdown run from Gabe Jones to help Meek regain the lead 16-12 with 10:01 until halftime. The lead only lasted four plays as a 9-yard run gave Lynn the lead once again, 20-16, with 8:26 to go. After both teams exchanged three-and-outs, Meek got the ball and marched all the way down to first-and-goal from the 7-yard line, but four straight incompletions gave the ball back to the Bears. Lynn put together its own lengthy drive, but time ran out on the Bears in the first half.
As exciting as the first half was, the second half was completely the opposite. Lynn went three-and-out to start the second half and Meek went on a clock-chewing, 22-play drive that ended with a Tiger interception on fourth down just 2-yards away from scoring. The Bears were driving to put the game away, but Matthew Clark gave Meek one more chance with a fumble recovery. Meek was eventually was stopped on fourth down. Lynn only needed four plays to run out the clock and secure the 20-16 win.
The road loss ends the Tigers’ season at 3-7. With 17 seniors graduating from this team in May, there will be plenty of open spots for some young players to step up and embrace bigger roles next fall.
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