By: Shayla Terry

The Luverne Tigers playoff run was cut short after the first round with a 27-14 loss to the Aliceville Yellowjackets.

“We gave some scores up, and really got knocked down,” said LHS Head Coach Scott Rials.

“We just never could get back over the top.”

Early on the Tigers struggled to match the Yellowjackets. Aliceville secured three touchdowns in the second half, all complements by two-point conversions. Going into halftime the Tigers had yet to score, leaving them behind 24 points.

In the third quarter, Luverne awoke with sophomore quarterback Dionte (Tay) Brantley’s complete 25-yard pass to senior wide receiver Antavious Brown. Sophomore linebacker J.J. Harris ran for a successful two-point conversion.

Unfortunately, the Yellowjackets met the Tiger touchdown with two additional touchdowns of their own. Both touchdowns were polished with two-point conversion, bringing the score to 40-8.

Luverne kept fighting. Harris added more points to the board with an 11-yard touchdown run. The Tigers attempted to capitalize on the run with a two-point conversion, but were unsuccessful. Luverne went into the fourth quarter 40-14.

Sadly, the Tigers would score no more. Aliceville scored their final touchdown, complemented with a successful field goal attempt. The gamed ended 40-14.

“It’s one of those things we need to learn from,” Rials said.

“You learn and improve, and make your weaknesses your strengths moving forward. All in all, we had a pretty good regular season.”

The Tigers completed their regular season with a 5-3 record. Regular season featured wins against both county rivals, Brantley High and Highland Home School.

Brown completed his last football season with 465 receiving yards, 25 catches and nine touchdowns.

This season, Brantley threw for 919 yards and had 14 touchdowns. Junior running back Marcus McGhee rushed for 1,708 yards, had 249 carries and 18 touchdowns. On the defensive side, Harris had a total of 69 tackles with two forced fumbles.

The Tigers will now shift their focus to basketball season, which begins Nov. 29th against Highland Home.