Whether it was the undefeated start to the season or motivation to stop the Salem skid, Houston coach Eric Sloan said his team put too much pressure on itself to win.
The result – accompanied by bickering on the sidelines – was the Tigers’ 14-7 defeat Friday to Salem.
“We dealt with difficult things all night and got to fighting amongst ourselves. That’s something I’ve never seen,” Sloan said. “You would have thought we were playing for a national championship. The least little thing that went bad, we self-destructed. It was like the end of the world.”
Now, how will the Tigers respond?
HHS suddenly faces some adversity as it lost its unblemished record and conference opener. The Tigers (2-1, 0-1 South Central Association) also were defeated for the 35th straight meeting with Salem.
Sloan said he hoped the response would be a team ready to go to work in preparation for Friday’s game at rival Cabool.
“We can’t mope around. We lost. It’s not the end of the world,” Sloan said. “We just didn’t handle adversity very well. That’s life – you’re going to get knocked down. How are you going to respond?”
Salem (2-1, 1-0 SCA) bottled up the Tigers’ running game and did just enough offensively to escape with a victory. Two second-quarter scores were enough for the Tigers from Dent County to continue their dominance in the series.
Houston got its lone points on the defensive side of the ball as senior Steven Logan returned a tipped pass 76 yards for a touchdown near the end of the third quarter. The offense, which had a first-quarter score wiped away by a penalty, was held to a season-low five first downs and managed just 94 yards of total offense.
Chance Hunter, who had 315 yards and five touchdowns through two weeks, was held to 36 yards on 15 carries. HHS was limited to 74 rushing yards.
“We struggled based on how they lined up,” Sloan said. “They had 11 guys within 5 yards of the ball. There was a little confusion on who was blocking who.”
Despite its struggles, Houston still had a chance with three offensive possessions in the fourth quarter trailing by a score. But all three – two punts and a fumble on a desperation hook-and-ladder attempt with 19.5 seconds left – failed.
Salem gained 203 of its 259 yards of offense on the ground. Eli Floyd led the way with 59 rushing yards – highlighted by a 39-yard score. Quarterback Zack Eplin added 58 yards on 23 attempts.
HHS appeared to take an early led on its second series when Hunter raced 38 yards around the right edge into the end zone. But the score was wiped out by an illegal block just before Hunter crossed the goal line.
The ball was moved back to the 16-yard line and the Tigers failed to score.
“It’s just one of those mistakes. It’s something I haven’t coached us up on good enough. I’ll take the blame,” Sloan said. “It sounds silly but I’ve told our kids –– I told them at halftime, so I’ll take full responsibility –– if the play gets beyond you, take a knee.”
Salem’s first score was also wiped away by a penalty and after two holding calls and a sack by junior Andy Edwards, Salem faced second-and-goal at the 30. On the next play, Eplin avoided pressure in the backfield and found Cameron Howard for a 30-yard strike.
Two possessions later, Floyd made it 14-0 on his 39-yard score.
The score remained that way until Logan send the Tigers’ cowbell ringing crowd into a frenzy.
With 58 seconds left in the third quarter, a short swing pass from Eplin bounced off his teammate’s hands and into those of Logan. He raced 76 yards untouched down the left sideline for his first career varsity score. Lucas Kelley’s extra point cut the deficit to 14-7.
“I’m hard on Steven and expect a lot out of him,” Sloan said. “I hugged him and told him I loved him. He is a playmaker, and we expect big plays out of him. They took a chance against Steven, and he made them pay.”
Houston couldn’t complete another late comeback, though, and enters Friday’s game at Cabool coming off a loss for the first time in 2015.
“Now there’s no pressure. Everybody outside of the community still thinks we haven’t done anything,” Sloan said.
“Will you let it snowball? You’ve been smacked. What are you going to do about it?”
Senior Steven Logan returns an interception 76 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter of Friday’s game against Salem.
BOX SCORE
| Salem | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | – | 14 |
| Houston | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | – | 7 |
Second Quarter
SAL – Howard 30 pass from Eplin (pass failed), 7:17.
SAL – Floyd 39 run (Wisdom pass from Eplin), 2:05.
Third Quarter
HOU – Logan 76 interception return (LKelley kick), 0:58.
| SAL | HOU | |
| First downs | 9 | 5 |
| Total yards | 259 | 94 |
| Rushes-yards | 45-203 | 35-74 |
| Passing | 56 | 20 |
| Punt returns | 20 | 0 |
| Kickoff returns | 2 | 32 |
| Comp-att-int | 4-12-1 | 2-12-1 |
| Sacked-yards lost | 2-11 | 2-15 |
| Punts | 6-27.7 | 7-25.4 |
| Fumbles-lost | 4-1 | 1-1 |
| Penalties-yards | 4-25 | 8-55 |
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – Salem, Eplin 23-58, Hobson 12-51, Floyd 5-45, Quick 5-49. Houston, Hunter 15-36, Richardson 2-19, EKelley 3-18, Logan 2-8, Knarr 4-3, Poynter 9-(minus 10).
PASSING – Salem, Eplin 4-12-1 56. Houston, Poynter 2-12-1 20.
RECEIVING – Salem, Howard 2-35, Quick 1-18, Floyd 1-3. Houston, EKelley 1-14, WWelch 1-6.
Week 3 scores
Salem 14, Houston 7
Willow Springs 39, Cabool 15
Liberty 19, Thayer 3
Mountain Grove 46, Ava 14
Week 4 games
Cabool at Houston
Mountain Grove at Willow Springs
Thayer at Salem
Liberty at Ava