By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
LANDIS ó Long after the game, steady rain pounding off their red helmets, South Rowan’s Blake Houston and Kelsey Robinson plodded slowly and silently through the muck and mire of Donnell Stadium in a state of shock.
Their thinking was if they didn’t leave the field, the nightmare hadn’t really happened.
But it did happen. South lost 24-20 to NPC foe West Iredell on a bizarre, last-second play on Friday. South has lost 262 games in 48 seasons of football. This had to be one of the toughest on that long list to stomach.
Carson safety Scott Ashby, who had come to watch his neighbors when his own game was postponed, exited in amazement and said, “Wow, I didn’t even know it was legal do that.”
Give West Iredell credit. The Warriors knew what to do when disaster struck, and Garrett Blohm threw a game-winning pass to Keenen Morrison on a “fire call” coach Mark Weycker’s team had practiced for just such an occasion.
Overtime appeared to be a worst-case scenario for South as West Iredell’s Bryson Shepherd set up for a 25-yard field goal in the final seconds. South, which had controlled the final three physical quarters, led 20-17.
Shepherd’s kicks had been money all night, and fans assumed overtime. South coach Jason Rollins didn’t. He was thinking victory.
“We knew we could block their field goal, and we knew exactly where we would block it,” he said. “And then we blocked it.”
A host of Raiders blew through. Quan Glaspy appeared to get to the ball first. South fans celebrated as the kick was smothered. The ball took a right turn and hopped around in the slop.
Blohm, the holder, didn’t panic. He scooped the ball and threw a solid pass to Morrison, who squeezed it for six points with one second showing on the clock. A celebration ensued. A flag flew.
“I really thought it was for an ineligible receiver,” Rollins said. “They had linemen down at the end zone.”
But the flag was for over-exuberance on the celebration ó who could blame the Warriors? ó and the touchdown and the verdict stood.
“It’s a great thing when your kids can execute in a situation like that,” West Iredell coach Mark Weycker said. “There are going to be a lot of tossup games in this league. Last week (against Lake Norman) we let one get away. Tonight we got one. South is very hard-nosed, and we’re lucky to get out of here alive.”
A Shepherd field goal, a 4-yard scoring run by quarterback Quan Rucker and fierce defense put West Iredell ahead 10-0 after a quarter.But a fumble recovery by Jabin Wilson gave South an opening, and it pounded 26 yards to make it 10-6 just before halftime. Deandre Harris scored the first of his three TDs, punching in behind blocks by Robinson and Cadarreus Mason, a pair of big defensive linemen operating as bruising blockers.
South (1-4, 1-2) took its first lead with a punishing 62-yard drive to open the second half. It was 5 yards at a time with two tight ends helping blast holes for Harris and fullback Steve Sexton.
“South wanted to play us in these conditions,” Weycker said. “The field negated a lot of our speed and big plays. This was their chance.”
West Iredell (4-1, 2-1) regained the lead at 17-13 on a breakout by Devan Miller with 4:55 left in the third quarter.
South needed a break and got a huge one when a Warrior lost his handle on a wet ball and South linebacker Reid Shaver grabbed it at the West Iredell 25 with 6:20 left.
“I thought I had a touchdown, but I got tripped up,” Shaver said. “It still looked like a momentum play.”
It was. Harris just wasn’t going to go down, and he hammered out 3s and 4s. He barged into the end zone behind Robinson and Mason with 2:22 left for a 20-17 lead.
But covering kickoffs was a sore spot for South, and West Iredell took advantage with a solid return that was compounded by 15 yards for a South personal foul.
West Iredell started on the South 43, and Rucker made scrambling plays to keep a feverish drive moving against the clock. On a fourth-and-3, he fought past the first-down marker by inches.
A sure touchdown pass was dropped to force Shepherd’s ill-fated field-goal try.
“Little mistakes beat us, just like little mistakes have beaten us all year,” Shaver said. “Our offense and defense played their butts off tonight, but we had key mistakes on special teams.”