By Staff
The Cassopolis varsity football team fell a touchdown short against visiting Galesburg-Augusta on Thursday, Sept. 1.
Galesburg-Augusta' Justin Mitchell scored with 1:29 remaining to give Parchment a 42-39 come-from-behind victory.
The loss dropped the Rangers to 1-1 on the season, while Galesburg-Augusta improved to 1-1.
Galesburg-Augusta outscored the host Rangers 14-6 in the opening quarter and held a 21-19 advantage at halftime.
Dan Welbum opened the scoring on a 26-yard run. Mitchell added a one-yard run and Kris VanCleave added both extra points to give Galesburg-Augusta a 14-0 lead.
The Rangers cut the lead to 14-6 when A.J. Ballard scored on a 47-yard run.
The extra point kick failed and the Rangers trailed by eight.
Travis Boersma extended the Galesburg-Augusta lead to 21-6 when he hauled in a 46-yard pass from Cory Shug and VanCleave added the extra point.
The Rangers closed the gap to 21-19 when E.J. Harris scored on a 47-yard run and Paul Curtis scored on a quarterback sneak.
Lonnie Williams added the extra point after the Curtis run. Cassopolis went for two after the Harris touchdown, however, the conversion run failed.
Schug tossed his second touchdown pass of the night to open the third quarter scoring.
He hit Jeremiah Roe with a two-yard toss to give Galesburg-Augusta a 28-19 advantage.
The Rangers again cut the lead when Curtis scored on a five-yard run. The two-point conversion attempt failed again and the Rangers found themselves down 28-25.
Cassopolis then grabbed the lead early in the fourth quarter when Rodney Lewis hauled in a Curtis pass for a 34-yard touchdown.
This time Williams was good with the extra point kick and the Rangers had a 32-28 lead.
The lead didn't last long as Galesburg-Augusta scored on a 92-yard kickoff return by Grant Donithan to make it a 35-32 contest.
The Rangers rallied again, this time taking a 39-35 lead when Harris scored on a 46-yard run and Williams added the extra point.
But Galesburg-Augusta would not be denied and when Mitchell scored with less than two minutes left to play, the Rangers had no answers.
Both teams ran the ball well as Galesburg-Augusta finished with 264 yards rushing and Cassopolis finished with 251 yards rushing.
Cassopolis had the better of it through the air, hitting 8-16 passes for 210 yards and an interception.
Galesburg-Augusta was 6-of-10 through the air for 80 yards and two interceptions.
Larry Harris led a balanced Ranger ground game with 89 yards, while E.J. Harris finished with 72 yards and Ballard finished with 68 yards.
Welburn finished with 105 yards for Galesburg-Augusta.
Cassopolis opens up Lakeland Conference play on Friday night when it hosts Buchanan.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.