[laker20]

Final! Congrats Titans.

Russell Co had a heck of a season, but came up short in this one. The team we watched all year failed to show up until about 8 minutes remaining in the 4th. This is one Laker fan who's extremely proud of what they accomplished this year, and even though the final game leaves a bad taste in the mouth, they should be proud of what they've done.

[toolaidback]

Congrats to Mercer County. Goes to show that if you buy into a good coaches program, you will see good results. Good season Russell.

[kyrocklover]

Congrats to Mercer. Not totally surprised by this. Mercer has excellent coaching.

[GetChili]

Wow. I did not see this coming at all. However, congrats to the Lakers on a heck of a season!

[Stardust]

This is another game that surprises me. This was 2 teams going in different directions down the stretch and with Mercer losing their last 2, and RC winning their last 3, I expected Russell Co to pull out the win

[RebelPride12]

One of the top 3 upsets in the state this week.

Inexcusable.

[knighted]

One of the top 3 upsets in the state this week.

Inexcusable.

I agree. This is a huge surprise to me. I also expected district 6 to give a better showing than this.:HitWall:

[RebelPride12]

I agree. This is a huge surprise to me. I also expected district 6 to give a better showing than this.:HitWall:

Mercer led 19-0 at one point.:wtf1:

[Eddy Creek Bay]

Mercer is now 5-6. They have 17 seniors. Russell county lost to Mercer County in 2007 as well. This is their 1st win of the season against a team with a winning record. I saw on another site that Russell has only won 2 playoff games in their school's history.

[64black&gold]

Only winner from district 6 was Rock against Marion. Way to go 5 !!!

[More Cowbell]

This might be the shocker of the night in my opinion.

Congrats Mercer Co.

[Norm Peterson]

I didn't see this one coming at all. Nice season for Russell County but they flame out early in the playoffs again. I saw on another site that they are now 2-21 in the playoffs all-time. That is amazing for a team that has had as many winning seasons over the years.

[Nefarious83]

Congrats to Mercer!

[Football1]

Congrats Mercer. Nice win against a good team.

[Stardust]

11/4/2011
Mercer Co. 19 Russell Co. 14

Mercer Co. 7 6 6 0 19
Russell Co. 0 0 0 14 14
Scoring summary:
Class 4A
MC--Ashton Jones 15 pass from Jacob Long (Rhett Pigman); MC--Isaiah Burns 20 pass from Long (kick failed); MC--Burns 22 pass from Long (kick failed); RC--Blake Ellis 20 pass from Burton Mann (Lucas Williams; RC--Nick Britt 18 run (Williams kick).
Records: Mercer Co. 5-6, Russell Co. 9-2.

[LeeCoUKFan]

Umm........I'm speechless!! I know that I wasn't at the game but, I don't see how Russell Co was able to loose this game considering they came 3 points and an OT away from being 10-0 in the regular season!!!

[Hatz]

Congrats to the Titans!

Tough loss for the Lakers but I'm certain they will rebound with their underclassmen.

I do have to say this score :yikes: me more than any other by far.

[Jack Lambert]

Good job Titans,but this score dosen't suprise that much mercer has improved a great deal thru out the season.

[bigtitandaddy]

Mercer has played a much tougher schedule and district than Russel, they handled some major adversity last week and wanted to rejuvenate Friday, Mercer Co, was one step ahead of Russel all night. Russel fans will tell you that their team didn't show up til second half, but Mercer just knocked them AROUND all night, only plays they got scores on were screens, and passes, run game got them nothing and they were sacked all night. late in fourth quarter on fourth in Mercer territory Russel could have scored to go ahead mercer d, shut em down!!!! Then with time left on the clock mercer running the ball to milk clock, titans RB Johnson got two big first downs, on fourth down!!!
Hats off to mercer, and them Russel fans who are a bit wild met their match with the Titan faithful.

[laker20]

The Laker's had plenty of chances to win this game, but failed on execution, game plan, adjustments and simply never could get the ball to bounce their way.

The Laker's had two TD runs called back (1 holding, 1 block in the back). We also had a ball that we intercepted and ran back 60-yards to the one, only to fumble on the next play. Then we threw one interception in our own endzone, and had a dropped pass in the endzone. All of these were on different drives. So, that was 5 opportunities to score of which we came back with zero. Then we had the opportunity to kick two short FGs but chose to go for it on 4th and failed both times (6 points would have been huge).

We also had at least three interceptions that we dropped, that would have stopped 2 of Mercer's scoring drives. We simply allowed Mercer's line to dominate the LOS and never adjusted our plays or our blocking schemes.

At half it was 13-0 Mercer, with us kicking to start the 3rd. We held them, but on the punt, Britt was tackled and lost a shoe (3rd time for the night). Rather than take a time out on what was a crucial drive we ran our first two plays with our best player on the sideline only to be forced into a 3rd & long. So ultimately we had to punt again, and Mercer moved the ball down field and threw a VERY controversial TD pass. The ball was thrown to the right sideline, our corner went up and caught the ball and as he was coming down the Mercer receiver wrapped his arms around him on to the ball (both players in the endzone. The official standing there signaled interception and after our offense started running on to the field, one of the other officials came over and changed the call to a Mercer TD......no conversation, nothing. This was a good 15-20 seconds after the play. So Mercer was up 19-0.

Finally, in the 4th, we got the ball and the Laker team I've watched all year showed up. We scored a TD with 10:45 remaining, held Mercer to a 3 & out and scored again with 7:20 left. Then we forced another 3 & out w/ 6 minutes remaining and took the ball down to the 12 or so only to try a reverse that lost several yards, then our QB gave up a sack (7th of the night). Turned the ball over on downs with 3 minutes remaining and never could force the punt to get the ball back.

The officiating was questionable at best. Two times Britt was tackled by the face mask (both very obvious) and once he was horse collared. But even with the poor officiating the big difference was that our players just didn't make the plays that had been routine all year. Had we even made half of them, we would have won by 20. Nonetheless, we'll have a week or two extra getting ready for next season.

[64black&gold]

I didn't think Mercer could win but I thought they would play the game closer than many thought because Mercer really improved a ton from the start of the season through the end.

[laker20]

Mercer has played a much tougher schedule and district than Russel, they handled some major adversity last week and wanted to rejuvenate Friday, Mercer Co, was one step ahead of Russel all night. Russel fans will tell you that their team didn't show up til second half, but Mercer just knocked them AROUND all night, only plays they got scores on were screens, and passes, run game got them nothing and they were sacked all night. late in fourth quarter on fourth in Mercer territory Russel could have scored to go ahead mercer d, shut em down!!!! Then with time left on the clock mercer running the ball to milk clock, titans RB Johnson got two big first downs, on fourth down!!!
Hats off to mercer, and them Russel fans who are a bit wild met their match with the Titan faithful.

While agree that that the Mercer players were much more hyped up to begin this game, I wouldn't say that they were ever a step ahead of the Lakers. They dominated the LOS and our coaching staff never made the proper adjustments. We tried going to a pass game, but rather than make the short passes tried to go down field knowing that our QB didn't have the time to wait for the long patterns, and has had trouble throwing the ball away all season. With the two called back TDs and the fumble on the 1-yard line, you could see our players' shoulders start to slump.

I disagree on the quality of the two districts. In all honesty, I don't see Mercer as being any better than Clay Co. They simply wanted it more last night and our guys didn't show up to play. There were maybe 4 or 5 of the Lakers who showed that they wanted this game. The real difference in this game was the Mercer coaching staff made the right calls and adjustments, and sold his players on what it was going to take to move on.......ours didn't. In the end Mercer got the win, and that's all that really matters.

[bigtitandaddy]

your recollection of the nights events are silly, the mercer co rec caught ball and ended up with ball at end of play officials discussed it and called it a td, the fumbles you all had and INT's were plays made by mercer we knocked the ball out of your hands, rattled your qb, and and out ran your wr's, as for the call backs they were clear holding and clips on those two plays, right at point off attack without those illegal blocks you get creamed for a five yard gain.

I go agree that our Line dominated LOS though!:biglmao:

Mercer county mistakes made you plent of chances to come back and win, but it never happened, but again the lakers never had any drives only some big plays.

[laker20]

your recollection of the nights events are silly, the mercer co rec caught ball and ended up with ball at end of play officials discussed it and called it a td, the fumbles you all had and INT's were plays made by mercer we knocked the ball out of your hands, rattled your qb, and and out ran your wr's, as for the call backs they were clear holding and clips on those two plays, right at point off attack without those illegal blocks you get creamed for a five yard gain.

I go agree that our Line dominated LOS though!:biglmao:

Mercer county mistakes made you plent of chances to come back and win, but it never happened, but again the lakers never had any drives only some big plays.

My recollection of the game is pretty accurate. The TD pass was in the hands of our corner first and the Mercer receiver wrapped it up. I'm not sure whether our player was on the ground in the end-zone before that occurred, which would make a difference. But their was no discussion on the call change, and I couldn't tell you which one was the right call. My point was that it was a very controversial call, and the way that it was changed was questionable.

I also never said that the two called back TDs were bad calls. In fact, the second one was definitely the right call because I saw the block in the back clearly. The first one was across the field and I couldn't say whether it was a good call or not. The fact that they were both called back effected our players though, and that was my point.

The two fumbles were good plays by Mercer. They were direct result of the cut blocking that the Mercer Dline was doing which gave the LB's easy access to our backfield, which is where they were most of the night. Both times the ball was knocked out.

I wouldn't call the sacks rattling our QB. He was making slow decisions all night and in my opinion should have only been sacked once. You've got to know when to throw it away.

In the end, the Laker's made too many mistakes and never capitalized on the opportunities. It was just a really bad performance from our team.

[toolaidback]

Way to go Mercer, don't let anyone take away from your underdog win. Both teams had an equal oppotunity to show up with their best game, and you guys did it.

[laker20]

Way to go Mercer, don't let anyone take away from your underdog win. Both teams had an equal oppotunity to show up with their best game, and you guys did it.

I agree 100%. The Titans came out and played like they were the underdogs and got it done. They got it done and we didn't.

Congrats.

[Norm Peterson]

I agree 100%. The Titans came out and played like they were the underdogs and got it done. They got it done and we didn't.

Congrats.

Is that 2-21 playoff record accurate for the Lakers?

[geauxtigers75]

Wow. I didn't see this one coming. Congrats Mercer.

[laker20]

Is that 2-21 playoff record accurate for the Lakers?

I'm not sure, it could be. Russell Co isn't known for it's football program by any stretch of the imagination. I think in 2003 we were 1-9.

In fact, I think that might have been part of the problem last night, we've always come in as the underdog and in recent years have played some really good games (2010 Up on ACS 13-0 @ half, 2009 Scored 27 on Lone Oak who hadn't given up that many points in their previous 5 games combined), but last night we were the favorite. That's something new to the team, the fans, and most importantly the coaches. I think you have to learn how to play as a favorite in the playoffs, and that's something the Laker's have little experience in.

I've said all year that we were too one-dimensional. I think that we were so satisfied with winning on the talent of Nick Britt that we failed to develop other facets of the game. Luckily we have a majority of these guys coming back and if we can improve the passing game, and broaden the playbook, then we should be a team to reckon with.

[64black&gold]

While agree that that the Mercer players were much more hyped up to begin this game, I wouldn't say that they were ever a step ahead of the Lakers. They dominated the LOS and our coaching staff never made the proper adjustments. We tried going to a pass game, but rather than make the short passes tried to go down field knowing that our QB didn't have the time to wait for the long patterns, and has had trouble throwing the ball away all season. With the two called back TDs and the fumble on the 1-yard line, you could see our players' shoulders start to slump.

I disagree on the quality of the two districts. In all honesty, I don't see Mercer as being any better than Clay Co. They simply wanted it more last night and our guys didn't show up to play. There were maybe 4 or 5 of the Lakers who showed that they wanted this game. The real difference in this game was the Mercer coaching staff made the right calls and adjustments, and sold his players on what it was going to take to move on.......ours didn't. In the end Mercer got the win, and that's all that really matters.

You make reasonable arguments on here most of the time but to say Mercer and Clay are on the same level is ludicrous. Mercer would beat Clay by 4 or 5 td's.