BISMARCK - Twice last Friday night, Rison had momentum. Each time, though, in the blink of an eye, the excitement of gaining momentum was vanquished when Bismarck answered with a pair of kick returns for touchdowns. Throw in a trifecta of long TD runs that overshadowed what otherwise was a good outing for the Wildcat defense, and it evolved into a 49-12 victory for the Lions. The setback left the 'Cats still searching for more improvement and a win after two outings on the gridiron. Rison is 0-2 for the first time since 2013. Meanwhile, out to avenge their pair of tough losses at Rison just a year ago, the Lions, 1-1, finally grabbed a win in the 8-game series between the two schools, dating back to 1964. "They (Bismarck) big-played us with their speed at the skill positions," Rison head coach Caleb Carmikle said. "They are fast, their kids play with a lot of heart. But I think the final score is somewhat misleading, because I thought our defense, except for three big plays, did a good job and showed much improvement over week one.
"Offensively, we're still searching for an identity, consistency, to stop shooting ourselves in the foot," he said. "We've got a long ways to go on that side of the football. And, obviously, we especially have to improve our kick coverage, where it's a matter of finding the football and going to make the tackle. We're making some personnel changes for that right now. Overall, we're going to keep working hard, looking at film, trying to get better." Bismarck, which passed for over 500 yards combined in the two games at Rison in 2022, attempted to get an aerial attack going. But with good pressure on scrambling quarterback Ben Keithley, the 'Cats came up with a pair of interceptions by Keyshawn Heard and Erion Mc-Craney and limited the Lions to only 34 yards passing on just five completions out of 13 attempts. In week one, Rison gave up 192 yards passing by Dumas.
And while Rison did yield three long TD runs in the se...
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