Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Cubs Win Opener

Prescott's Curley Cubs opened the 1998 football season with a 14-6 win over the Stamps Yellow Jackets.

The Jackets received the opening kick and started their first drive of the night from midfield after a short boot by freshman kicker Keon Sockwell.

However, a tough Cub defense ended any possibility of a Jacket drive, stuffing runners on first and second down and forcing a fumble on third down. Frosh Jonathan Wish stripped and recovered the pigskin for Prescott.

This set the Cubs up at the Stamps 40 yard line.

It didn't take Prescott long to cash in on the miscue, as, four plays later, tailback Rico Hopper turned the corner for a 22-yard score. He also carried for the two-point conversion attempt successfully.

Prescott led early 8-0.

Stamps again managed to get to midfield, where the Jackets saw their second drive stall because of Prescott's swarming defense.

Once again, Sockwell recovered a Stamps turnover, but saw the offense sputter and have to punt.

Casey Ward saw his boot partly blocked, with Stamps falling on the ball for good field position yet again.

The Jackets mounted their only scoring drive of the night in the middle of the second quarter.

After punching the ball over the goal, the Jackets tried for two, but found themselves swatted yet again.

This left the Cubs in the lead with a narrow 8-6 score.

As time ran down in the first half, the Cubs scored their second touchdown.

Toby Bullock found Hopper open in the secondary with a 40-yard bomb for the touchdown. William Smallwood was unable to drive through for the conversion, but the Cubs still led 14-6.

Neither team's offense did much in the second half, as both defenses stiffened.

One Stamps drive was shut down when eighth grade linebacker Craig Teague picked off a Jacket pass.

The Cubs will travel to Hope Thursday, Sept. 10, for a date with the Bobkittens.