WOODVILLE &045; Lightning danced across the sky as the 2004 high school football season opened across Mississippi on Friday night. Despite their best efforts, however, the Porters Chapel Academy Eagles were unable to make it strike twice.

Ruston Cado rushed for 108 yards and two touchdowns, and Wilkinson County Christian held off a furious PCA comeback in the closing minutes to score a 13-7 win.

PCA got within a touchdown with just under three minutes to play and got the ball back a minute later, but fumbled on its last possession.

&uot;There’s no other way to say it. We had a tiger by the tail, and we knew it,&uot; WCCA coach Paul Hayles said. &uot;We were very fortunate to get a lead on them, and we knew it would not be easy to maintain it.&uot;

The game was played in a steady rain that negated any thoughts of passing the ball. Although Hayles said the Rams intended to use a balanced attack, the weather played to his team’s strength early on.

WCCA’s offensive line averages nearly 250 pounds per man, and they were able to blow open holes for their running backs at will in the first half. The Rams rushed for 142 yards in the first two quarters, and built a 13-0 lead at the break on Cado’s two touchdown runs. The senior capped WCCA’s first drive with a 7-yard TD run midway through the first quarter, then scored from 19 yards out with 6:28 to play in the second.

&uot;The first half, we didn’t do a very good job blocking and tackling. They whipped us on the line of scrimmage, and that was the difference in the first half,&uot; PCA coach Randy Wright said. &uot;The rain affected us a pretty good bit. We could not get a grip on the football to throw it, and it limited us to nothing but running the football. They outweighed us 75 pounds a man on the line, and we could not create holes for ourselves to run through. It definitely hindered our game plan and nullified our speed.&uot;

Both teams got sloppy in the second half, combining for nine fumbles as the rain soaked the ground and made the football slippery. PCA made a series of defensive adjustments that held the Rams to only 37 rushing yards in the second half, but failed to produce an offensive spark of its own until WCCA opened the door late in the fourth quarter.

The Rams took over at their own 34-yard line with just over 10 minutes to play and seemed headed for a game-clinching touchdown until they self-destructed. A holding penalty, coupled with an unsportsmanlike conduct after the play, pushed them back 25 yards and led to a fourth-and-35 situation. Punter Collin Dore was injured earlier in the drive, and backup T-Ray Deville was unable to corral a high snap.

A host of Eagle defenders tackled him at the WCCA 31 with 3:04 remaining. On the next play, Mixon tossed a halfback option pass to Gerald Mims to get to the 1-yard line. Mixon then finished the short drive with a touchdown run, and the Eagles cut it to 13-7 with Evan Rogers’ extra point.

WCCA recovered the onsides kick, but went three-and-out. The punt snap was high again, but this time Deville was able to get the ball away as several PCA defenders closed in.

&uot;We had a backup punter who’s never done it before in a game, and he looked like it,&uot; Hayles said. &uot;He came in the second time and did a super job Š It’s a good thing he’s tall. We nicknamed him ‘Stork.’&uot;

The Eagles still had one last shot, with the ball at their own 36. After one incompletion, WCCA linebacker LaValle Johnson came untouched off the right side and blasted PCA quarterback Michael Busby, knocking the ball loose. Wayne Covey recovered for the Rams, and they were able to run out the clock.

&uot;I was very pleased with the intensity we came out with in the second half,&uot; Wright said. &uot;We whipped them in the second half, and I believe if we’d have had one more quarter to play we’d have won the football game.&uot;