Four-straight turnovers doom Archie in road loss

By Jimmy Gillispie

Before Friday night, it had been nearly four years since Archie was on the receiving end of a lopsided loss.

But, coach Drew Smith said his squad wasn’t too far from possibly pulling off the upset at Lockwood. 

Archie led early in the second half, but turned the ball over on four-straight possessions. Lockwood capitalized and won 79-40 on its home field. Lockwood has won the past two regular season games over Archie, but lost the past two playoff games to the Whirlwinds.

“The storyline of the game was almost,” Smith said. “We were winning in the third quarter, and the entire ball game on defense was we were almost there for a tackle or doing our job. Lockwood was just more fundamentally sound. We had four possessions in a row with a turnover in the second half. I’ve never had that.”

The last time Archie lost a game by more than two points was Nov. 25, 2022. That’s when North Andrew beat Archie, 60-22, in the 8-man state semifinals.

Archie finished the 2023 and 2024 seasons undefeated, winning back-to-back state championships. Lat year. Archie lost its opener to Lockwood and the state semifinal game – both by two points.

“Going back and watching the film, I thought they are not 40 points better than us, but they just played better than us,” Smith said. “They were more fundamentally sound and more disciplined.”

On Friday, it was four turnovers in the second half that doomed the Whirlwinds. Smith said the Whirlwinds took a lead before Lockwood scored its own touchdown in the third quarter. 

Then, the wheels came off the wagon. Three interceptions and one fumble gave Lockwood short fields to work with. The Tigers ran the ball through the Archie defense en route to victory.

Following the loss, Smith said his message to his team was simple.

“I told the guys I’m glad we have this opportunity now rather than in a few weeks when it matters,” Smith said. “I said I’d rather learn from these mistakes now early on in the season with it being Week 2 and have the chance to correct them, but it takes you buying in and understanding that we need to get better and correct some things to get where we want to go.”

Archie will be back at home this week to face Osceola, who is also 1-1 on the season. Archie is 7-0 against Osceola since joining 8-man football in 2020.