Red Devils upset by Twiggs 7-12; region title may be up for grabs
By T.J. CARANI

A.G. MIDDLEBROOKS SCRAMBLES FOR RUNNING ROOM The Red Devils will host GMC for homecoming this Friday.

"It is inevitable that some defeat will enter even the most victorious life. The human spirit is never finished when it is defeated ... it is finished when it surrenders." Ben Stein made this observation when commenting on a court case which his client lost. The comment also means a lot to Red Devil fans, especially following last week's 12-7 defeat of our hometown football team. The game was close, with the Twiggs Cobras having to work hard for every inch of land they took. This is our team's first defeat of the season, but they didn't surrender, even during the last play of the game.

The game began with the Red Devils receiving the ball. A fumble sent the game into a downward spiral, as the Cobras recovered the ball. The Cobras used a strong running offense to snatch up every bit of the space from the 40-yard line to the 16-yard line, where the Red Devils were able to put up a united, and powerful, front to stop the Cobras on a fourth down, recovering the ball and preparing for a long battle. The battle was certainly a long one with only one touchdown being scored, by Twiggs. With four minutes left in the half, the Twiggs Cobras made an impressive 11-yard run to the end zone. The Devils were within 20 yards of bringing the game to a tie when the half ended.

An old proverb we may all know is that "Defeat isn't bitter if you don't swallow it." And The Red Devils refused to swallow defeat in the second half, fighting the Cobras with a will unseen since the 300 Spartans defended Thermopylae in 480 B.C. against the million Persians poised to take over Greece.

The Devils stopped the Cobras well short of a touchdown during the Cobras' first drive of the half. A short punt put the Devils on the 48-yard line with a strong will and stronger players. A.G. Middlebrooks ran the ball 48 yards for the Devils' only touchdown in the game. An extra point kick by Vance Tarver put the Devils in the lead 7-0. Obviously, Twiggs didn't like that very much. The half consisted mostly of turnovers and short plays until Twiggs took some advice from British singer Steve Winwood's work, and took a chance when they saw it. They made several high risk passes, the third of which resulted in a touchdown with little more than a minute left on the clock for the Devils to answer. A missed kick put the score at 12-7 when the Devils got the ball.

In a football game, a team has three timeouts in each half. Twiggs didn't get the memo and called a fourth one that they didn't have. The referees penalized them 15 yards for the fairly obscure violation and the Devils were on the 50. A textbook example of a passing play by Austin Goldman to Wilkes Goolsby put the Devils on the 35 yard line. Another pass by the same two Devils put the Devils on the 20 yard line with a first down. The Cobras gave up fivemore yards for an early jump, and it looked like the Devils could summon up some power to come back in the last 30 seconds of the game. A.G .Middlebrooks caught a pass, putting the ball on the nine yard line. Another short pass of fiveyards put the Devils inside the fiveyard line with fiveseconds left. In any movie, the blockers would have left a receiver open, or Austin's emergency run for the line would have worked. However, this game wasn't a sports movie, and he was stopped at the four yard line as time ran out and the buzzer made the most unwanted sound a Red Devil fan can hear when the win is so close.

JAFABIAN GREEN FINDS A WIDE HOLE TO RUN THROUGH He carried the ball fivetimes for 31 yards in last week's game against Twiggs County.

Let's remember, though, what Ben Stein said. "The human spirit is never finished when it is defeated… it is finished when it surrenders." Our team clearly never surrendered this game. This puts the Devils walking into the last game of the regular season, and the Homecoming game against GMC with a record of 9-1. The home game begins at 7:30 Friday night in the historic Buddy Bufford Stadium where the Devils will be ready to go. Senior Recognition will also be this Friday night, during halftime. So come out and show some support for the Red Devils.