SECOND HALF LETDOWN

Livingston 23, Smith Co. 9

By Terry Collins Courier Sports

CARTHAGE — The Smith County High School Owls football team traveled to Overton County to face Livingston last Friday night. The Owls were 1-1 after a thrilling three overtime matchup in Celina last week versus Clay County while the hosts were 2-0.

Unfortunately, the game was eerily similar to last year’s game which saw Livingston use a big second half to erase an 11 point deficit and win 20-17 in Carthage.

Last Friday night, the Owls built a 9-0 advantage in the first 2:30 quarters before the Wildcats scored 23 points in the game’s final 17 minutes to post a 23-9 victory. 

“Our guys played hard, we just ran out of gas,” said Smith County head football coach Matt Dyer. “Livingston is a good and well coached 4A football team. Offensively we did not capitalize on enough of the opportunities our defense was giving us. We had way too many penalties hurt offensive drives.”

The Owls defense helped build a 9-0 lead as a Will Barnes interception set up a Smith Co. touchdown and a Livingston high snap went through the endzone for a safety. 

“Our defense played lights out in the first half and we only responded with 9 points,” said Dyer. “In the second half we gave up too many big plays on defense and couldn’t get off the field. We just have to execute better and fix our mistakes.”

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