Just about any coach will tell you that winning ugly is always better than losing pretty.
Such was the case at Hixson Community Stadium on a frigid Halloween night as the host Wildcats finished off their regular season with a 19-0 win over the Brainerd Panthers.
Hixson improves to 8-2 overall and 6-0 in District 6-AA while Brainerd is now 3-7 overall and 3-3 in 6-AA.
It was cold and painfully windy on the surface of the Anthony S. Martino Field and those adverse conditions took a negative toll on both teams. Brainerd lost three of five fumbles while Hixson lost two of six.
But on a night when winning at home and hoping to gain home-field advantage for the playoffs as an incentive, the Wildcats were good enough to win over the Panthers, getting even for a late-season loss at Brainerd a year ago.
"It was a win and I'm going to enjoy it," Hixson coach Dan Duff suggested after the game ended.
"Brainerd played hard. We had too many mistakes on offense as we just have to have better ball security. If we play like this next week, our stay in the playoffs might be really short.
"We were careless on offense and that's something we must fix before next week. But I feel confident that if we don't turn it over, we might have scored two or three more times," he added.
Brainerd coach Brian Gwyn had plenty of praise for his defense, which kept Hixson out of the end zone the entire second half.
"Our defense played great, but the offense didn't give them any help. We had plenty of chances, but we just blew our opportunities and didn't capitalize on the play of our defense. Now we must sit and wait to see if we're in the playoffs. This could be a really long night for me," Gwyn added.
Hixson took the opening kickoff and promptly lost a fumble on the first play with Brainerd's Demonte Pickett recovering.
With quarterback Malik Beavers picking up 12 yards on a keeper, the Panthers moved down to the Hixson 16, but the drive ended with a fourth-down pass was incomplete in the end zone.
The Wildcats didn't fumble the second time they touched it as they needed just five plays to march 84 yards, taking just over two minutes to take the lead on a 41-yard run by Marshall Cooper. Austin Slifko's kick made it 7-0 with 6:31 left in the first quarter.
Hixson took advantage of a bad snap on a Brainerd punt and took over at the Panther 3. Quarterback Preston Wilkey scored on a keeper on the first play and suddenly the difference was 13-0.
Then on the third play of the second quarter following an interception by James Cole, the senior got the call two times in a row, the second being a 17-yard gallop into the end zone with 11 minutes showing in the second period.
As it turned out, that was all the scoring for the game, but more than enough for the Wildcats to put the icing on a fine regular season.
Hixson finished with 295 total yards, including 287 on the ground.
Cooper was the leader for the Wildcats as he finished with 164 yards on 15 trips. He had runs of 35 and 18 yards in the first half while his longest run in the final half was 14 yards.
Sophomore Myles Ratliff was next with 86 yards on a dozen attempts while Cole finished with 54 yards on 11 tries.
Jordan Johnson caught the only Hixson pass for eight yards.
Brainerd countered with 227 total yards, including 185 on the ground.
Beavers led the way with 104 yards on 16 carries while Kaylen Stewart also topped the century mark with 100 yards on just nine carries. He also had one of two Panther pass receptions for 20 yards.
Turnover wise, Cole had two interceptions for Hixson while Justin Nicholson, Elijah White and Jacob Bird all had fumble recoveries.
Pickett and Deljuan McDade had fumble recoveries for Brainerd while Chris Cooper had an interception.
BRAINERD 0 0 0 0 -- 0
HIXSON 13 6 0 0 -- 19
HIX -- Marshall Cooper 41 run (Austin Slifko kick), 6:31 left in first;
HIX -- Preston Wilkey 3 run (kick failed), 2:32 left in first;
HIX -- James Cole 17 run (pass failed), 11:00 left in second.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@comcast.net)