The Warren Lumberjacks faced off against the Stuttgart Ricebirds where they had a good first half, but fumbled in the second half loosing 31-28 in the opening game on Friday.
The Ricebirds won the open-ing coin toss and elected to receive. The Ricebirds fum-bled the kickoff and the Jacks recovered the fumble.
Treylon Jackson started the game as for Warren at quar-terback. The Jacks kept the Ricebirds on defense for most of the first quarter, pre-venting Stuttgart from scor-ing.
At late in the first quarter, Warren called their first timeout.
Quarterback Jackson threw a pass to Tayshawn Johnson at the 17-yard line to convert and give Warren a first down.
The Lumberjacks moved to the eight-yard line with 2:26 left in the quarter.
Maddox Lassiter gave a handoff to Landon Wolfe from the five-yard line who made it to the end zone for the first touchdown of the night. After a successful kick by Jacks kicker Jose Jacinto, the Jacks led 7-0.
The kickoff by Jacinto to the Ricebirds went out of bounds and the Ricebirds began at the their own 38-yard line.
At 44 seconds, a flag was thrown against the Ricebirds for false start, giving them a five-yard penalty. The penal-ty called back a Stuttgart touchdown as the quarter ended.
The Jacks began the second quarter in the lead, 7-0.
With the Ricebirds on of-fense, the Ricebirds ran the ball from the 35-yard line to the 20-yard line, but a flag was thrown against them for holding. They received a 10-yard penalty, moving them to the 45-yard line.
The Jacks took over on of-fense and they were able to move the ball down to the seven-yard line. Jackson handed the ball to Johnson. Johnson pushed through the Ricebirds’ defense to the end zone for a touchdown.
Another successful kick by Jacinto made the score 14-0 with 8:43 in the second quarter.
Jacinto kicked to the Rice-birds where it was caught at the 30-yard line.
The Ricebirds return man ran the ball down the field 75 yards to score their first touchdown. The Ricebirds added the extra point making the score 14-7 with 8:28 in the second quarter.
The Jacks’ offense was able to move down the field to the one-yard line, when a flag was thrown against them for false start. They were moved to the six-yard line due to the five-yard penalty.
The Jacks made it back to the one-yard line. Lassiter pushed through the Rice-birds defensive line, scoring a touchdown for the Jacks.
Jacinto’s kick was good mov-ing Warren up 21-7 with 4:45 left in the second quarter.
The Ricebirds scored again on a 40-yard field goal with 47 second left in the half pulling them to 21-10 at halftime.
The second half kickoff went out of the endzone putting Warren starting at the 30-yard line.
On their first possession of the half the Ricebirds were ran the ball from their 43-yard line to the end zone, to pull them within 4 points of the Jacks.
Warren’s Jalin Lee caught the kick at the one-yard line and ran to the 25-yard line.
The Jacks fumbled at the 10-yard line. The ball bounced into the end zone and was recovered by the Ricebirds, giving them another touch-down and a 24-21 lead at 6:15 in the third quarter.
Warren received a 15 yard personal foul penalty against the Jacks.
At 5:45 in the quarter, Kam Davis caught the pass and ran 85 yards to the end zone for a touchdown, bringing the Jacks back in the lead. the PAT was good making the score 28-24.
The Jacks started the final quarter with the lead of 28-24.
At 7:43 in the quarter, the Ricebirds ran the ball through the Jacks’ defense to the end zone, but a flag was thrown against the Ricebirds for holding.
The Ricebirds then ran to the 12-yard line, but they were unable to break through the Jack’s defensive line.
At the next play, the Rice-birds pushed through the Jacks’ defense to the end zone, scoring a touchdown at 6:57 in the quarter.
The kick by the Ricebirds was good, putting them back in the lead against the Jacks, 31-28.
With about a minute left of the game, the Ricebirds and Jacks were at the 10-yard line, with the Ricebirds on offense. The clock continued to run. The Ricebirds quar-terback took a knee twice on the play, letting the clock run out, ending the game.
The Jacks will play against White Hall at 7 p.m. on Fri-day in Warren.
Former Lumberjack and Minnesota Vikings player Jarius Wright is one of the coaches for White Hall.
