Gamecocks close 2020 season with homecoming loss

A frustrating season for the New Brockton Gamecocks (1-7, 1-5) came to a frustrating ending as they fell to the Houston Academy Raiders 49-28 on Oct. 23 on homecoming.

The game also ended up being the final game of the 2020 season after Cottonwood – who New Brockton was scheduled to face on Oct. 30 – was forced to cancel their game because of needing to reschedule a region game for that date. New Brockton coach Zack Holmes said that he attempted to find a replacement game but simply was unable to.

Against Houston Academy, things started out rough as the Raiders went ahead 14-0 in the first quarter. Houston Academy scored on touchdown runs of two and 19 yards in the opening period and then a strong rain began to drench both sides.

Kaden Cupp got New Brockton on the scoreboard with a 33-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter to cut Houston Academy’s lead to 14-7, but the Raiders answered with a two-yard run of their own to extend the lead back out to 21-7.

Cupp broke off a 40-yard touchdown run before halftime to cut Houston Academy’s lead to 21-14 at the half.

As the third quarter began, Houston Academy once again stretched out a double-digit lead with an 8-yard touchdown run to lead 28-14.

Cupp scored his third touchdown run of the game – on a 29-yard scamper – to cut the lead back down to 28-20. The PAT was no good.

Houston Academy answered with a 20-yard touchdown run and extended its lead to 35-20 and Cupp answered right back with a 51-yard touchdown run. Brandon Johnson converted a two-point try and the Gamecocks once again came within seven points, down 35-28.

The Raiders owned the fourth quarter, however, and scored on a three-yard run and a 10-yard run to eventually take the 49-28 win.

Cupp had a huge night with 239 yards and four touchdowns on 24 carries along with 41 yards on 8-of-19 passing. Jordan Tacey added 41 yards on 14 carries along with three catches for 24 yards.

Julian Noble chipped in with three carries for 29 yards and caught two passes for 19 yards, while he also recorded 11 tackles on defense.

Jamarcus Brown led the Gamecock defense with eight tackles, two tackles-for-loss and a sack, while Clay Reynolds recovered a fumble and Matthew Smith intercepted a pass.

“I thought we fought,” New Brockton coach Zack Holmes said of the loss. “We kind of dug a hole early, down 14-0, and then the weather came in and we had some issues with that, but we adjusted and I thought we fought back and played hard. I thought the kids played hard for most of the game.”

The 2020 Gamecocks faced plenty of adversity during the season having its first two games canceled due to COVID-19 and then missing an entire week of practice before the WS Neal game because of bad weather. New Brockton also had a big number of injuries late in the season.

“The high point of missing guys was 16 of our 46 players were injuries and only four out of 11 seniors played against Providence,” Holmes said. “It was kind of a perfect storm of things that came together to contribute to this season.”

Holmes said that the way a team deals with adversity says a lot about their character and he believes his team showed it had plenty of it.

“I told the seniors after the game that how you deal with things and how you deal with adversity is big and I don’t think we could have faced many more adverse situations than we did,” Holmes said. “This group of seniors came back every week and continued to fight and I think that will pay off big in the long run.

“I think we learned you have to be committed and dedicated and you have to make the most out of every single play. We wanted (the season) to go better than it did and we’ll go back to work on that today, and just try to get better.”