Not even a downpour at kickoff could dampen the homecoming spirit in Monticello for the large gathering of alums that were in attendance Friday at Lawrence County High School.

The vibes were high as the smell of charcoaled meats wafted through the stadium ahead of kickoff against Sumrall.

The Cougars scored the first points of the game but would not find the endzone again until too little time remained in a 24-12 loss to the Bobcats. The game was the Region 7-4A opener for both schools.

The wet field was a factor early as Lawrence County fumbled the first snap of the game and recovered it. The Cougars then fumbled the second snap and Sumrall pounced on that one at the LC 16-yard line.

The Lawrence County defense forced Sumrall backwards and then the snap was bad on an attempted 32-yard field goal attempt for the visitors from Lamar County.

The first extended drive of the game for the Cougars ended up taking the rest of the first quarter, as Lawrence County picked up one 4th-down conversion and a couple 3rd-down conversions on a grinding possession.

Last season Lawrence County had one of the most loaded offensive backfields in the state featuring quarterback Kannon Cato and running back Ahmad Hardy.

Cato is now playing wide receiver for Copiah-Lincoln CC and Hardy is a bell-cow in the backfield for the University of Louisiana-Monroe as a true freshman. He ran for 115 yards and the game winning score last week in a 13-9 win over Troy.

Last season at Sumrall, Hardy rushed for 400 yards and four touchdowns on just 16 carries to help the Cougars beat the Bobcats 53-37.

Replacing game breakers like that doesn’t happen overnight.

Longtime LC head coach Jesse Anderson has seen his Cougars improve offensively as the season has progressed as they beat Tylertown 36-18 last week.

One of the guys who’s stepped up in the offensive backfield is senior Lauria McDuffey. It was McDuffey who picked up the two yards needed at midfield on fourth down to extend the drive for Lawrence County that ate up the first quarter clock.

McDuffey did again later on the drive when Lawrence County was facing a 3rd-and-long from just outside the redzone.

The end of the first quarter had a wonky ending as LC thought they would be able to run out the clock and move to the other end of the field for the fourth quarter, facing a 4th-and-5 from the Sumrall 20-yard line.

The game clock was one second behind the play clock and the Cougars were forced to call a timeout as Anderson lobbied for the period to end. Then when LC hit the field following the timeout, they had a delay of game that moved them back to a 4th-and-10 from the 25-yard line.

Junior quarterback James McDuffey took the snap under center for the Cougars and dropped back before finding his brother Lauria wide open for the 20-yard touchdown pass on that final play of the first quarter.

The 2-point conversion try looked good on a rush by Lauria McDuffey, but a hold called the play back and the attempt was unsuccessful on the retry.

While Lawrence County is a team that runs the ball, but got on the scoreboard first by throwing it, Sumrall is a team known for putting the football in the air under longtime head coach Shannon White.

The Bobcats came into the game winless but had played a tough early season schedule that included Hattiesburg High (6-0), West Marion, Seminary (5-1), South Jones, and West Harrison (4-1).

The Sumrall offense broke through after the LC score as freshman quarterback Riggs Russell tossed a short pass out to his h-back Ethan McCoy. McCoy shed a defender in front of the Sumrall bench and then picked up nearly 40 yards in getting down to the LC 7-yard line.

Junior running back Gavin Glass quickly scored for the Bobcats to tie the game up and after the PAT kick, Sumrall led 7-6 with 7:20 remaining until halftime.

Sumrall kept momentum by forcing a 3-and-out after taking the lead and then the Bobcats got the first of several big special teams plays.

With Lawrence County punting for the first time from its own 25-yard line, Glass broke through the line to block the kick. Cole Kammerdeiner recovered the blocked punt for Sumrall on the LC 27-yard line.

With 30 seconds remaining until halftime Sumrall jumped up 14-6 following a 5-yard scoring run by junior Sean Jones after the blocked punt.

During halftime, the 25th anniversary of Lawrence County’s 1999 MHSAA 4A State Championship was commemorated with the roster being announced and those team members present meeting on the field with their former coaches to hoist up the trophy that capped a 14-0 season and a 21-14 championship win over Clarksdale in Veterans Memorial Stadium.

There might not have been a popup tent in Lawrence County that wasn’t in use on Friday as alums cooked and caught up in spaces spread all over campus. The players in attendance walked out from the tents behind the east end zone and met at midfield with former head coach Danny Adams and the assistant coaches from that title team.

Ken Bournes, Lorenzo Townsend, Michael Loving, Aaron Pitts, the names of those Lawrence County legends were read aloud and the commemoration ended with a fireworks show that almost took out some of those aforementioned tents behind the endzone.

Sumrall received the kickoff to start the third quarter as the smoke from the fireworks gave the field a feel of Saigon in 1968.

The Lawrence County defense stiffened in the third quarter, holding the Bobcats to just a field goal in those 12 minutes. Senior defensive end Ra’Shaunn Lewis and junior defensive tackle Amare Porter started to help the Cougars get pressure up front on the Sumrall passing game.

That made field goal was an impressive one though, as Sumrall junior Wyatt Jones nailed it from 48-yards to put the Bobcats ahead 17-6. Sumrall also had a booming punt on the first play of the fourth quarter that travelled from their own 10-yard line and ended at the LC yard 15-yard line once it stopped rolling.

The Bobcat special teams continued to shine as they blocked another punt in the fourth quarter which set up another short touchdown run by Glass to make the score 23-6.

Lauria McDuffey scored the final Cougar touchdown of the night with two minutes remaining in the game.

Lawrence County (2-4) will be off next week and then travel to Purvis on Oct. 18. Sumrall (1-5) will host Purvis on Friday in another region matchup.