Inopportune penalties and turnovers is the best way to explain Tonkawa’s 12-13 loss to Perry last Friday night.After taking a 7-0 lead and forcing Perry to punt, the Bucs moved the ball all the way from their own 18 to the Maroon 11 only to get intercepted in the endzone.The first Buc TD came on a fourth down pass from Ryan Morgan to Jake Randall for six yards, the tenth play in a 39 yard drive. The drive was set up by a Miccael Brown fumble recovery.Perry used the turnover to ignite its only long drive of the evening, covering all 80 yards in 12 plays to knot the score at 7-7.Buc kicker Brendan Ochoa put the Bucs ahead at half 10-7 with a 25 yard field goal with just three ticks left in the second quarter. the drive went from Tonkawa’s own 36 to the Perry 8 in eight plays and covered 56 yards, most of it by way of a pass play from Morgan to tight end Noah Campbell for 44 yards.Both teams traded punts throughout the third quarter.Luke Shepherd blocked a Perry punt early in the fourth quarter and Peyton Keith tackled a Perry ball carrier for a safety with 11:14 left in the game.That would be Tonkawa’s final points of the game, but not because the Bucs stopped moving the ball.In fact, Tonkawa was in scoring position five times during the game, scoring on only two of them.On the ensuing kickoff, Tonkawa was unable to move the ball and was forced to punt. Brendan Ochoa got off his best punt of the evening, a 43 yarder that pinned the Maroons at their own 20.At the time, the Bucs still led 12-7.On the second play of an 80 yard drive, Perry scored on a 68 yard run, their longest of the evening against the Buc defense. The PAT pass failed, but the Maroons led 13-12 with 8:47 left in the game -- still plenty of time.On the Bucs next drive, but not their last, Tonkawa scored on a 37 yard pass play from Morgan to Jake Randall. But it was called back because of an ineligible receiver downfield.Facing fourth down at the Perry 41, Morgan hit Tyler Looper for 25 yards, a first down and new life. Tonkawa got all the way to the Perry 11 before fumbling the ball away at the 5:44 mark.With 2:06 left ...
