By Kevin Eckleberry

kevin.eckleberry@lagrangenews.com

LAGRANGE – The Long Cane Middle School Cougars are gunning for a second consecutive league championship, but they’ve got a formidable Valley team standing in their way.

Long Cane and Valley Middle School both won their semifinal games a week ago to reach the championship game, and they’ll play at 5:30 p.m. today at Ram Stadium.

Long Cane beat Callaway Middle 24-0 last week to earn a title shot, while Valley eased past Gardner Newman.

The teams have played once this season, with Valley getting the upper-hand.

That win helped Valley secure the number one seed for the league tournament.

Long Cane is seeded second.

Against Callaway, Long Cane put it away with a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

In the first half, Robert Harris returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, and Cory Clark ran in the two-point conversion.

It remained an 8-0 game until the fourth quarter when Clark had two touchdown runs as the Cougars put it away.

Clark and Adrian Tucker give the Cougars a formidable one-two combination at running back, and Tyson Duncan has been terrific at quarterback.

“It’s the best middle-school running-back combination you can have,” Pike said. “(Tucker) can do anything, and Cory’s a power guy.”

As for Duncan, Pike said “Tyson is what makes our offense go, just because he’s so composed and collected. He doesn’t get rattled easily. He throws a pretty ball. He does everything right. He’s the real deal. I think he’s got a chance to be pretty special.”