‘Canes Fall in Overtime
In their last game of the season last Friday the Monticello Hurricanes took on the Fighting Irish from Aquinas High School in Augusta and lost a close, hard-fought and exciting game in overtime 21-20.
After kicking off to the Irish, the ‘Canes forced a punt and began a 13 play drive which culminated with a 13 yard touchdown run by Justin Brown.
The extra point was good and the ‘Canes led, 7-0.
The lead was short-lived because after the kickoff, on their first play, the Irish broke loose for a 64 yard run and a TD, converted the extra point, and the score was 7-7.
The ‘Canes put together another drive and took the ball to the Irish six yard line, but on fourth-and-three an incomplete pass turned the ball over.
Following this neither team was able to put together a successful drive during the remainder of the first half.
Late in the third quarter the Irish fullback broke loose for a 44 yard TD run. The extra point was good and the ‘Canes trailed 14-7 with five minutes left in the quarter.
Midway through the fourth quarter the Irish muffed a punt and the ‘Canes took over on their 48-yard line. On the next play Darius Colvard scampered 48 yards untouched for a TD. The extra point was good and once again the score was tied at 14 with 10:48 left in regulation time.
After a scoreless possession by each team the ‘Canes drove to the Irish 34, but couldn’t convert a fourth down and the Irish took over with 2:40 left in the game.
The ‘Cane defense stiffened and forced the Irish to turn the ball over with 57 seconds left to play and a chance to win. The ‘Canes threatened to put the game away when they drove to the Irish 23 yard line with four seconds left and time for one last play.
Justin Brown was open in the end zone, but an alert defender batted the ball away at the last second forcing the game into overtime.
In high school overtime a coin is flipped for first possession and then each team has an opportunity to go on offense from the 15 yard line until one team wins.
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The ‘Canes won the toss and elected to go on defense first. The Irish lined up on the 15 and two plays later they had a first-and-goal on the one-foot line. They scored on a quarterback sneak, kicked the extra point and the score was 21-14.
The ‘Canes lined up on the fifteen for their turn. Three plays later it was third down and eight yards to go. With only one chance left Quarterback Keldrick Davis rolled out to his right and at the last second threw a bullet to Brad Lynch in the corner of the end zone for a TD, making the score 21-20.
On the extra point try the ‘Canes elected to run the ball for two points and win the game rather than kicking the extra point and going to a second overtime.
Unfortunately, the called play wasn’t executed, the ‘Canes were stopped short on the run and lost the game by one point.
Athletic Director and Head Coach Doug Huff said, “I felt like with the way they were lined up we had a good chance to make it if we could execute the play we called. It was my call all the way.”
The coach had some observations about the team and the year.
“We’re proud of the team for sticking with it and always playing hard. I couldn’t have asked for any more effort from them. We all wish the results had been different, but the team showed a lot of pride and character to play the way they did all year long and do everything we asked them to do.”
The coach also speculated about the team next year.
“I do think we’ll have more depth next year. We thought we had the depth this year, but with injuries and other obstacles we lost some players and that forced us to play a lot of freshmen.
“The situation we were put in this year will help us next year when we hope to field 13 or 14 seniors and 10 or 11 juniors.