BARNESVILLE — Lamar County’s Tyler Scandrett kicked a field goal as time expired to beat Benedictine 24-21 in the Class AA state football playoffs.
Despite Scandrett missing an extra-point attempt early in the game, Lamar County coach Franklin Stephens summoned him to try a 47-yard field goal with the game tied at 21-21 with 1.6 seconds to play.
Scandrett delivered in the clutch, drilling the field goal through the uprights.
The Trojans remain unbeaten at 10-0-1 and advance to the quarterfinals.
For a half, the Trojans chances of advancing looked bleak. The visiting Cadets leaning on a power-running game which gashed the Trojans defense and ate up the clock, helping Benedictine to a 21-7 lead at halftime. After two quarters, Lamar County was outgained on the ground 198-102 and had ran just eight offensive plays in the second quarter to the 20 of Benedictine. Worse for the Trojans were three turnovers, all of which the Cadets converted into points with Chance Jackson, who finished with 103 yards on 20 carries, scoring all three times. Kyle South rushed for 126 of his game-high 156 yards in the first half.
In the second half, however, the Trojans bounced back. Lamar County didn’t turn the ball over while getting two takeaways from the defensive side of the ball. They also limited the Cadets to 97 rushing yards during the final two quarters.
“We told them that in the second half we were going to come out and play Trojan football,” Lamar County head coach Franklin Stephens said. “(We told them) ‘We’re going to play as hard as we can and find a way to win the ballgame.’”
The Trojans didn’t take long to get on track in the second half.
On the second play of the third quarter, Lawrence Austin picked off a pass thrown by Benedictine quarterback Stevie Powers. With the ball at the Cadets 29-yard line, Lamar County got itself in gear, driving toward the goal line where Jeremy Fletcher, who fumbled twice in the first half, scored from a yard out. Scandrett’s PAT try missed, putting the Trojans behind 21-13.
“We just came out and fought through adversity. Coach told us that it wasn’t going to be easy,” Lawrence Austin said.
Then, late in the third quarter, the opportunistic Trojans cashed in again, with a mishandled handoff resulting in a fumble and Bo Dunn coming up with the loose ball just shy of midfield.
Methodically, Lamar drove downfield, stalling on fourth down at the Benedictine 10-yard line. Needing three yards to keep the drive alive, Jeremy Stephens did that and then some, powering through the defense into the end zone for a touchdown. Quarterback Lance Austin found an open Ray Lyons to tie the game on a two-point conversion pass with 8:30 to go.
Still, Benedictine wasn’t finished. The Cadets moved downfield, utilizing their running game to use up plenty of clock, appearing intent on either scoring with little time remaining or forcing the game to overtime. But a fourth down pass from quarterback Stevie Powers at the Lamar County 30-yard line fell incomplete with 2:26 to play, giving Lamar County a chance to win.
“Lamar just made one more play than we did,” Benedictine coach Danny Britt said.
Lamar County 7 0 6 11 — 24
Benedictine 7 14 0 0 — 21
B—Chance Jackson 11 run (Brandon DeLoach kick)
L—Lawrence Austin 9 run (Tyler Scandrett kick)
B—Jackson 7 run (Deloach kick)
B—Jackson 4 run (DeLoach kick)
L—Jeremy Fletcher 1 run (Scandrett kick failed)
L—Fletcher 10 run (Conversion pass good)
L—Scandrett 47 field goal