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MOUNT ULLA — Somehow the goal posts were left standing. A.L. Brown’s incredible streaks of 30 straight regular-season victories, 21 consecutive South Piedmont Conference triumphs and a school history of dominance over West Rowan, however, crashed to earth.
West Rowan’s miraculous 25-22 decision over A.L. Brown on Friday night in Mount Ulla — miraculous because West scored 15 points in 47 seconds late in the contest — was merely the greatest night in Falcon football history.
“I’m not gonna say it was the biggest win in school history,” said West coach Scott Young. “‘Cause there’s been some great teams here before. But this is my biggest win as a coach. I’m so proud of my team and my staff.”
The images from the game will linger with West fans for decades.
There were Brant Marlin and James Francis and J.D. Watkins crushing the Wonders’ offense at the line of scrimmage.
There was quarterback Jared Barnette, almost crawling from the field at one point, holding his arm and dragging his leg, but returning to the fray to have the performance of his life.
There was S.J. Culbertson, who took a friendly bounce presided over by the “Man Upstairs,” as he put it, and grabbed the onside kick that swung the game West’s way for good.
There was 270-pound tackle Matt Moore, sobbing and laughing simultaneously amid the postgame celebration, being hugged by dozens of fans — some of whom he knew and some of whom he didn’t.
Finally, there was the image of fullback Ben Hampton crossing the middle and spearing a perfectly thrown Barnette aerial, then streaking into the end zone for the winning touchdown with 48 seconds left on the clock to send an entire community into a state of delirium.
“All night long, everytime I caught the ball I turned around and saw nothing but green and white,” said Hampton. “Finally that last time, there was nothing but open field in front of me.”
After their postgame prayer and huddle, the Falcons hoisted Hampton on their shoulders. But it could just as easily been anyone of 40 heroes in blue— from corner Eric Weimer who batted down desperate Wonder passes to David Terry and Horatio Everhart who caught them.
“This was just the greatest moment of my career,” shouted Barnette.
The same could be said for everyone of the Falcons.
That’s the way it is when you come from 12 down to beat the state’s second-ranked team.
West made a statement early overcoming an Everhart drop of a sure TD strike by Barnette on the game’s third play to march to the Wonder 3. There Young settled for a Steve Meseroll field goal.
Then the teams’ rock-ribbed defenses took over. No one could move the ball on the ground as the first half swiftly disappeared in a flurry of unsuccessful running plays by both teams.
Gradually, though, the Wonders won the field position battle and a 43-yard Josh Lee to Aundrae Allison pass play set up a short TD scamper by Chris Carter.
West struck again late in the half. The key play was a fake punt near midfield on which Brandon Bailey battled for first-down yardage.
The Falcons took a 10-7 lead when Barnette dodged a blitzing Duran Lipscomb and zipped a pass to Everhart in the end zone. Everhart made sure of this one, clutching it to his chest, as Falcon fans went crazy.
West led 10-7 at half, but the lead was obviously precarious. The Falcons had played near-perfect ball — no turnovers and no penalties — yet led by just three.
Slowly, as most expected, the Wonders took control in the second half. Its defense, led by Gerrell McCrae and Lee Basinger, shut down West’s running game, leaving Barnette’s arm as the Falcons’ only means of movement.
Lee hit Maurice Edwards with a perfect over-the-shoulder pass for a TD in the third quarter to put the Wonders back in front 14-10.
Minutes later, Wonder linebacker Clifford White smacked Hampton to the turf when West gambled on a fourth-down play deep in Wonder territory.
Then Wonder blur Chris Carter broke tackles and then outraced everyone for an 80-yard score. Suddenly, after a surprise two-point conversion, the Wonders led 22-10 and seemed to have weathered one more challenge to their throne.”
“The thing was we had Carter at the line of scrimmage,” said Young. “After that, I saw a few heads start to drop on our sideline.”
But Falcons like Hampton, Barnette and Francis refused to let anyone call it a night.
Especially Barnette, who missed the Falcons’ previous game with an injured leg and who wasn’t sure he’d even play against the Wonders until Thursday.
Barnette was absolutely leveled by Basinger late in the third quarter and looked to be done — Basinger’s helmet cracked into Barnette’s forearm — but two minutes after leaving the game Barnette’s helmet was back on his head and he was pleading to go back in.
“We’re still in, we’re still in it,” Hampton yelled at their teammates. Amazingly enough, he was correct.
But it was still 22-10 after Charlie Fox intercepted a Barnette pass headed for Hampton in the end zone, and now there was only 4:47 to go.
The Wonders needed only to bang out a few first downs. West’s defense wouldn’t let them.
A Wonder punt traveled just 13 yards and three Barnette completions later West was at the Wonder 2.
Barnette scored on a sneak with 2:05 remaining to make it 22-17.
Then came the onside kick that will be discussed forever. Matt Russ made a perfect, tough-to-handle boot. Then suddenly, the ball was kicked, then batted, and suddenly Culbertson emerged from the pack, racing with the ball all the way to the Wonder 21.
Two plays later, Barnette found Hampton with the most famous pass in Falcon history.
The Wonders got the bal back with 1:08 remaining, but went nowhere with Weimer, Francis and Marling making the defensive plays.
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