LowcoSports.com staff report
Clifford-Langdale II lived up to the reputation of its predecessor, but this time, Beaufort Academy found itself on the wrong end of the heartbreak.
Three weeks after clinching a region title with a one-point win over Colleton Prep thanks to a stop on a two-point conversion with no time on the clock, the Eagles saw their season end in equally painful fashion Friday when a field goal try at the buzzer sailed wide left, sending the War Hawks to the SCISA 2A championship game with a 23-20 victory at Merritt Field.
Cole Davis passed for three first-half touchdowns, Connor Nettles drilled a 33-yard field goal with 2:50 left in the third quarter, and CPA’s defense made it stand up, though the Eagles worked themselves into Zeke Gonzalez’s range before the potential tying kick sailed wide.
It looked like it might be BA’s night when Jaxen Porter scored on a 12-yard run to cap a 15-play opening drive that covered 85 yards and chewed eight minutes off the clock, but Davis and the War Hawks answered with a 65-yard strike to Walker Bryan to tie it and replicated it on the next series with a 60-yard bomb to Caden Crosby, who stretched out to haul it in and kept his balance to gallop to the end zone for a 13-7 lead.
Devonte Green pounded it in from the 2 to cap another workmanlike BA drive and pull the Eagles even, and Braydon Dineen found Porter over the middle for a 30-yard touchdown to put BA back on top.
Davis wasn’t done, though, leading the War Hawks down the field and hitting Bryan for a 5-yard TD pass to draw CPA even at 20 at halftime.
Veteran coaches Greg Langdale and Mark Clifford made their adjustments at halftime and the defenses settled in and denied entry to the end zone the rest of the way, but Gus Warren forced a fumble that Raleigh Obenaus recovered to set up Nettles’ go-ahead field goal, and that proved to be enough.
The Eagles finish the season with an 8-3 mark, while the War Hawks (11-1) will face Williamsburg Academy for the SCISA 2A title at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Charleston Southern.
