MHSAA 2A football playoffs: Collins beats Puckett on the road
PUCKETT — The production from the Collins offense had been inconsistent at times through the first nine games. They had no such trouble Friday night.
The Tigers used a balanced offensive attack and got two defensive touchdowns to get past Puckett 50-30 in the first round of the MHSAA Class 2A Playoffs.
Collins (6-4) will travel to Loyd Star in the second round next Friday night.
MORE: Full MHSAA Playoff Brackets for all seven classes
“I think we got sloppy in the second half throwing the ball, but we stayed together. I’ve told the guys all year as long as we fight, we’ll be alright,” said Collins coach Eric Booth. “I felt like if we could run the ball it would open up the passing game and that’s what we did.”
The Tigers never trailed.
Collins scored on the opening drive of the game as Donte Booth ran in from 6 yards out to take a 7-0 lead with 9:11 left in the first quarter.
Booth added a defensive touchdown on a 75-yard interception return with 2:58 left in the first quarter to extend the Tigers lead to 14-0.
“I’m a senior, so we’re just trying to make plays and do what we got to do,” Booth said. “We came up with a game plan and came away with a win.”
Collins got a safety to take a 16-0 lead as time expired in the first quarter as snap went over the Puckett’s punter head and rolled out of the back of the end zone.
Puckett (8-3) finally got on the scoreboard board as Jaxson Elmore found Blake Taylor on a 45-yard touchdown pass and successful two-point conversion to cut the Collins lead to 16-8 with 9:02 left in the second quarter.
Collins responded with a 4-yard touchdown run from Tykendrick Barnes to extend their lead to 23-7 with 4:39 remaining.
After Samuelle Gray intercepted a pass, he caught a 34-yard touchdown pass from Elmore to cut the Tigers lead to 23-14 with 37 seconds left.
The Tigers quickly answered Austin Burkett took the ensuing kickoff 78 yards for a touchdown to give Collins a 30-14 lead.
Tyler Hall had an 80-yard interception return for a touchdown on the opening drive of the second half to give Collins a comfortable 37-14 lead with 8:23 left in the third quarter.
“Once we get offensively it is hard to defend us. We have so many guys that make plays and that’s what happened tonight,” Booth said. “We get to keep on playing and got to go to Loyd Star and we got to be able to stop the run.”
Burkett had 114 yards rushing on 11 carries for Collins. Barnes added two rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter from 2 and 21 yards out.
Elmore had 134 yards passing and three touchdowns to lead Puckett. The Wolves were hosting a playoff game for the first time since 2015.
“We didn’t catch many breaks and we turned the ball over a couple times,” said Puckett coach Brandon Cutrer. “Collins is big and fast and we didn’t execute the way we wanted to execute.”
