Eagles eke out another big W, close in on region crown
By Justin Jarrett
LowcoSports.com
No time on the clock. One play to get six yards. Check.
One more play for two points and the win. Checkmate.
Colleton Prep’s Cole Davis found Hayden Williams, who dived for the pylon to send the War Hawks’ sideline into a frenzy on the last play of regulation, but Beaufort Academy denied CPA on a two-point conversion attempt that would have clinched a region crown, escaping with a wild 20-19 win Friday night at a raucous Merritt Field.
Staring at the scoreboard reading 0:00 and a wall of fans surrounding the end zone, Davis rolled to his left and swung the ball out to Williams, whose elbow landed on the goal line with the nose of the ball inching into the white to give the War Hawks one more play — and a big decision.
Greg Langdale followed the conventional wisdom and went for the win on the road and rolled his star quarterback to the right side this time. Walker Bryan flashed open, but Davis couldn’t connect with him as BA’s home crowd erupted into emotional celebration for a second straight Friday after the Eagles’ beat Thomas Heyward for the first time a week earlier.
“It was a great ballgame,” BA coach Mark Clifford said. “You know, coming back after a big win is just as hard as coming back after a big loss like we did the week before, so I was real concerned about coming off that big win last week. But our motto right now is, ‘We’re back,’ and we’ve got some great players — some great kids.”
BA (6-2, 3-0) will have to get up for one more big game to close out the regular season, as the Eagles need a win at Bethesda Academy in Savannah on Friday to seal the region crown, while War Hawks (8-1, 1-1) have to take care of Palmetto Christian and hope the Blazers can end BA’s hot streak and force a three-way tiebreaker.
The War Hawks smacked the Eagles in the mouth on the first play from scrimmage when Davis went 81 yards for a touchdown, but BA’s defense settled in and slowed down CPA’s efficient offensive machine, and an opportunistic offense picked its spots and hit them. Braydon Dineen went deep for speedster Te’Shaun Heyward, who raced away from the defense to tie it.
CPA took a 13-6 halftime lead when Davis faked a keeper and popped a jump pass over the line for Williams, but Dineen punched it in to cap off an impressive drive to open the second half and pull BA even again. Two stout defenses held serve until Dineen struck gold again, finding Zeke Gonzalez deep down the left sideline for the go-ahead score with 2:17 left, and Gonzalez added the all-important PAT to make it a seven-point game.
The War Hawks’ quickly moved into the red zone and inched toward the goal line as time ticked away, finally facing fourth-and-goal from the 6 after a penalty pushed them back from the 1. They got the 6. They didn’t get the 2.
And BA limped away with a second consecutive triumph in a heavyweight clash of SCISA title contenders.
“We’re kind of coming together and learning how to win a little bit.” Clifford said. “We’re taking the attitude right now that if we do everything right and everybody gives it their all, we have a chance to win. We just want to be in the game and have a chance to win in the fourth quarter like we did the last two games.”
Justin Jarrett is the sports editor of The Island News and the founder of LowcoSports.com. He was the sports editor of the Island Packet and the Beaufort Gazette for 6½ years. He has a passion for sports and community journalism and a questionable sense of humor.
