With a little over eight minutes to play against Forrest County AHS Friday night, Poplarville found themselves down five points with the ball on their own 18-yard line and only one thing in mind, reaching the end zone.

But the Hornets couldn’t pull it off, falling 20-15 to the Aggies falling to 0-2 on the young season.

In the first three possessions that Poplarville had the ball two of them resulted in turnovers. Including the opening drive which the Hornets drove 53 yards to the Aggie’s 18 yard line before fumbling.

“We had too many mistakes on both sides of the ball in the first half” Hornets coach Lance Mancuso said.

On Forrest County’s third possession of the night Pierre Raines broke through the offensive line of the Aggies to deflect and intercept a pass and return it 58 yards for what appeared to be the first score of the game, but a flag was found on the field for a block in the back which erased the six points from the scoreboard.

With no score through almost two full quarters Forrest County (2-0) finally got on the scoreboard with a 4-yard TD run by Bobo Morgan, set up by a 44 yard connection between Aggie quarterback Corey Danner and wide receiver Dontrelle Sanford. After a good PAT by Morgan the Aggies took the lead 7-0 with 2:07 left in the first half.

After scoring again on the first drive of the second half Poplarville got its offense rolling.

Seven plays and 61 yards later Justin Raines took a hand-off and rambled 18-yards into the end zone. After a two-point conversion the score stood at 14–8 FCAHS with 5:25 left in the third quarter. After two more possessions and another score for both teams the Hornets had the ball trailing 20–15 with the ball in their hands and 8:37 left in the game. Eventually, Poplarville marched down the field and after back to back runs by quarterback Matt Williams found themselves with first and goal on the Aggie’s 9-yard line.

The Aggie defense stiffened though and on 4th down from the five deflected a pass in the end zone to all but seal the win.

Matt Williams finished the game with 12 rushes for 103 yards and 1 TD with Justin Raines adding on 79 yards on 14 carries. Williams also threw for 128 yards on 6-10 passing with 1 interception.

“We are going to have to come together as a team this week in practice” said coach Mancuso. “If we continue to play hard throughout four quarters, eventually with hard work the ball will bounce our way”

Poplarville will spend this week preparing to travel to Stone County Friday night before returning the next week to play the first game in their new stadium, opening up district play against Long Beach. Stone County moved to 2-0 on the season Friday.