Late Interception Lifts Coweta Past Grove

The Tigers survive a back-and-forth second half and boucne back from a tough Week 5 loss with a wild finish against Grove.

Thursday, July 28th 2011, 5:50 pm

By: News On 6

Late Interception Lifts Coweta Past Grove

Originally Published: Oct 9, 2010 12:45 AM CDT

Bobby Lewis
Oklahoma Sports Reporter

COWETA, Oklahoma – This time, Ty Daniels made it count. The junior linebacker, who had missed a few interception chances early in the season, snatched a deflected fourth quarter pass out of the air and sealed an 18-15 win for Coweta.

“We’re just going to keep working as hard as we can to just try to get to the state championship,” he smiled after the game. “We’re not going to let up.”

Coweta had every opportunity to fold in the second half against Grove, but wouldn’t. After scoring on their first possession of the third quarter, Coweta allowed a long touchdown pass down the sideline and a two-point conversion.

Even after Coweta failed to pick up critical first downs in the fourth quarter that would have sealed a big home win, nobody quit.

“We needed to come off the East Central game and win,” head coach Bubba Burcham said after the game. “We played well enough to possibly win (against East Central), but just didn’t make those little plays here and there.

“I’ve been preaching to them to play the whole game, play on edge and play with heart the whole game.”

Trailing 18-15 in the final minutes, Grove quarterback Adam Steffenson fired a pass on fourth-and-three that deflected off his intended target’s knee and right into Daniels’ hands. After returning the ball inside the Ridgerunner’s 30-yard line, Daniels got mobbed by his teammates.

Coweta (4-2/2-1) travels to Tahlequah in Week 7. After dropping their first district game of the year, Grove (4-2/2-1) will host Thomas Edison.