Monday night brought with it the first game of the season for Coach Shea Smith’s Norris City-Omaha-Enfield High School Freshmen team. This contest would find the Fighting Cardinals playing host to the Hamilton County Foxes.
The first quarter started out a little on the slow pace at the offensive end for both teams, but as the buzzer would sound, NCOE would claim the early 9-6 lead. Second quarter action found both teams still struggling to get any momentum going offensively but once again the Fighting Cardinals would outscore their opponent to take the 15-10 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Following the break, the Foxes came out and applied some extreme defensive pressure. This pressure caused the Fighting Cardinals to turn the ball over, and Hamilton County took advantage of the NCOE mishaps by converting on the offensive end. When the third quarter came to a close, the first half lead the Fighting Cardinals claimed had disappeared. With only one quarter remaining, and now trailing by four, NCOE knew they had to get things going to reclaim their earlier lead, but Hamilton County kept the defensive pressure on and went on to outscore the Fighting Cardinals by nine thus handing them the 37-24 loss.
Brandon Skaggs led the way for NCOE (0-1) with 17 points. Colton O’Neal followed with six points while Austin Brinkley added one point of his own.
NCOE will be back in action Monday, December 14, when they host the Carmi White County Bulldogs.
