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The Chickasha High School football team lost its first district game of the season on the road against the Altus Bulldogs.
The Fightin' Chicks dropped to 2-2 this season with the 27-21 loss to the Bulldogs, and put themselves in an early hole in district play.
Chickasha gave Altus its first win of the season, although the Bulldogs certainly didn't play like a team that was coming into the game 0-3.
The Chickasha defense held up well on the first two drives of the game, but Altus got on the board first late in the first quarter with a 43-yard run by quarterback Brantley Ford.
Chickasha's offense struggled for the majority of the first half, and had two fumbles by running backs in the second quarter, one by fullback Josh Latham and one by tailback Dalvin Madison.
Both of those fumbles led to touchdowns by Altus. After the first fumble, Altus drove 71 yards on a four-minute drive, capped off by a nine yard touchdown run to go up 14-0.
Chickasha got on the board with a little trickery on the next drive.
Quarterback Cade Morris threw a lateral pass to Bubba Wright, starting tight end and backup quarterback, and Wright launched it to Shaq Oliver for a 54-yard touchdown.
Altus answered with a 37-yard field goal by kicker Michael Perez to make the game 17-7.
Chickasha had some momentum on its next drive, but lost 25 yards on a sack before Madison fumbled it away. Diquon Woodhouse caught a 42-yard pass for a touchdown, and the Bulldogs took a 24-7 lead into halftime.
Woodhouse ran for 118 yards on 10 carries in the first half.
The third quarter was uneventful, but Altus managed to give itself a little bit more breathing room with a booming 53-yard field goal, extending the lead to 27-7.
In the fourth quarter, Chickasha showed signs of life with a 15-yard touchdown run by fullback Josh Latham. Latham broke several tackles on the way to his first touchdown of the season. Altus blocked the extra point, making the score 27-13.
The Chicks were driving late in the fourth quarter in a last-ditch attempt to come back, but failed to put any points on the board and Altus began to eat clock with its running game once again.
Chickasha got the ball back on a turnover on downs with around one minute remaining, but had no timeouts left.
Still, Morris was able to throw a touchdown pass to Deshawn Young for his first TD reception of the year to get a little closer.
The Chicks went for the two-point conversion, and Jacoby Brown ran it in using Chickasha's "Jac-Hammer" formation.
The Chicks went for the onside kick following the score, only down 27-21. Altus recovered, and took a knee for the victory.
"The good thing about our offense is that we're pretty diverse," Cobble said. "Maybe that lends us to a couple of mistakes."
District play is what really counts when it comes to making the playoffs, and Altus is undefeated in district, despite a poor start to the season.
Cobble said he wants his team to clean up the mistakes as the Chicks continue in district play next week.
"No penalties and no turnovers, and I think we'll be okay," Cobble said.
Chickasha returns home next week for a matchup against Capitol Hill at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
