Associated Press

RALEIGH — Dee Bost scored on a

10-yard bootleg on the first play of overtime as Concord held on to beat Western Alamance

35-28 in the Class 3-A North Carolina High School Athletic Association championship on Saturday.

Bost threw for 109 yards and a touchdown while running for 80 yards with a score for the Spiders (13-3), who blew a 21-point fourth-quarter lead but held on for their second state title in three seasons. Bost also returned an interception for a TD and was named the game’s MVP.

Matt Beecher intercepted a pass by quarterback Donald Britt on the play following Bost’s overtime score to seal the win.

“When we had the coin flip and we knew we had to go on offense, right then I knew we had to score immediately, because they had all the momentum,” Concord coach E.Z. Smith said. “They were just rolling.”

Britt completed 14 of 33 passes for 208 yards and two scores to lead the Warriors (14-2). He also ran for 122 yards and a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns.

Bost helped break open a tie game by passing for a TD and returning an interception for a touchdown on consecutive plays to give Concord a 21-7 lead at the half.

“I was feeling good, but we knew the game wasn’t over, so we couldn’t celebrate too much,” Bost said.

The Spiders increased their lead to

28-7 on Mike Moore’s 50-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, his second score of the game. But the Spiders barely averted what would have been a crushing collapse.

Britt ran for fourth-quarter scores of 12 and 25 yards to bring Western Alamance back within seven with just more than a minute left in the game. The Warriors then recovered an onside kick with 1:11 remaining and tied the game with 28 seconds left on a 36-yard pass from Britt to Kenneth Lindsay.

Concord fumbled the ensuing kickoff, giving Western Alamance a chance to win the game in regulation. But Adam Willets missed a 32-yard field goal with 8.4 seconds left to set up Bost’s score.

“Even though they scored and they tied the game up, we did not panic,” Smith said. “We’ve instilled in (our players) that no matter how bad things get, there’s always light at the end of the tunnel.”

Concord started this season 0-3 before running off 13 consecutive victories, culminating in Saturday’s championship. Western Alamance is still seeking its first title after losing in the state championship game for the third consecutive season.

“They’ve all been heartbreakers,” Warriors coach Hal Capps said. “I was talking to one of the coaches after the game. I said, ‘Golly, can you tell me another way we can lose a state championship game?’ “