For most of opening night, the Cactus and Mountain Ridge defenses played to a stalemate, and neither offense could mount a sustained drive into the red zone.
Tied at 7 in the third quarter on Aug. 29, it was clear that a couple big plays would make the difference. Fittingly, the Cactus defense was the catalyst.
The Cobras forced a fumble to end the Mountain Lions’ most time consuming drive of the night, then scored on a 57-yard pass from senior Luke Berlin to senior Robert “Junior” Bell. Senior linebacker Jayson Burkhard’s fourth quarter interception set up an eight-yard touchdown run by sophomore backup quarterback Myron Lee.
