Longhorns bow out in semis

Marengo Academy (7-5) saw its storybook season come to an end Friday night as Restoration hung two late touchdowns to pull away with a 32-13 win.

The Longhorns trailed 20-13 at halftime of the AISA Class A semi-final game and twice worked their way inside the Restoration 10 in the game’s second half.

“It was 20-13 at halftime and then they scored in the third quarter six points and then scored six points in the fourth quarter with about a minute to go. We were inside the 10 twice in the second half and didn’t get anything,” Marengo Academy head coach Robby James said. “We played pretty well overall, we just didn’t have quite the firepower they did. They’ve got a lot of speed. They’re just quicker than the teams we’ve been playing I think.”

The Longhorns got their first half scores from Hayden Huckabee on a six-yard run and Shade Pritchett, who hauled in a 25-yard Huckabee pass for a touchdown.

Huckabee finished the night with 119 yards on 17 carries while Josh Holifield added 101 yards on 20 carries.

Hayden Hall paced Marengo Academy with nine total tackles. Kyle Adams added eight stops while Carson Huckabee had six tackles and an interception.

James said his young team, which had only one senior, accomplished far more than anyone anticipated coming into the season.

“To have a team as young as we did starting out the season, if you’d have told me we were going to be one game from the championship, I would have thought that would have been way out there,” James said. “These guys played hard every game. We were in every game, even tonight. thought we had a really good season. It’s not what we wanted. Anytime you’ve got a chance to get to Troy, that’s what our goal was. We’ve just got to get in the weight room and get stronger and come back.”