CECIL – Marengo Academy moved the ball effectively but failed to take advantage Friday night, falling to Macon-East Montgomery 28-14 in its final pre-region tune-up.

“We had some opportunities in the first half, really,” Longhorn head coach Robby James said. “We had the ball six times. We should have gotten more out of them.”

Rain pelted the Montgomery area for much of the week, resulting in poor playing conditions; a fact that did not go unnoticed by the veteran head coach.

“It is the worst filed I have every played on and I have been coaching for 35 years. But that’s not an excuse. Both teams played on it.”

The conditions appeared to play a factor as the teams combined to fumble the ball 10 times. MA lost two of its five cough-ups while the Knights surrendered three of theirs.

The Longhorns got a second quarter score on a 24-yard pass from Matt Wallace to Trevor Johnson. Wallace then found Wood Collins in the end zone for the two-point conversion, sending MA to the half at 8-8.

As the game wore on, James’ squad wore out. The thin MA roster struggled with cramps late in the game.

“I just felt like we played hard,” James said. “We didn’t make the plays at the end.”

Wallace added a fourth quarter touchdown run from one-yard out. He completed 50 percent of his passes on the night, going 11-for-22 for 149 yards in the game.

“We threw the ball and caught it even in those conditions,” James said.

The game marked the final contest for the Longhorns before they head into region play next week against Morgan Academy.

“We have had to use these games for practice really,” James said of the Longhorns’ first three contests. “Hopefully we have learned enough in these games that we can play to win (in the region).”