By Scott Nickerson
Trailing 14-13, the Pike Road Patriots moved the ball deep inside Stanhope Elmore territory on three different drives in the 2nd half. The Mustangs’ defense forced turnovers on each drive, preserving the one point upset win over the Patriots on Senior Night.
The Mustangs got on the scoreboard late in the 1st quarter. Following Pike Road’s second offensive possession, the Mustangs’ special teams blocked the Patriot punt and took over at the Pike Road 11 yard line. Stanhope Elmore found the end zone on an impressive hook and lateral.
Bryant completed a pass to Jackson Thomas and Thomas lateraled the ball to a streaking Tevin Landrum who easily scored.
The Mustangs blocked the Patriots’ next punt as well, but quarterback Jacob Bryant threw an interception in the end zone on a fade route to Thomas. The Mustangs got the ball back a couple plays later when the defense recovered a Pike Road fumble. Bryant struck on the next play, finding Thomas across the middle for a 21-yard touchdown. The Mustangs went ahead 14-0.
After containing the run heavy Pike Road offense up to that point, the Patriots finally broke through the line and scored on a 58-yard touchdown, cutting the lead in half.
Late in the 1st half, the Patriots intercepted a deflected pass, and then methodically moved the ball down field, running every play, before scoring on a one yard touchdown run. The Patriots missed the tying extra point. The Mustangs went into halftime ahead 14-13.
While there were no points scored in the second half, there were plenty of big plays. Pike Road appeared poised to take their first lead of the game in the 3rd quarter when they moved the ball to the Stanhope Elmore 1-yard line. The Mustangs’ defense recovered a Patriots fumble and maintained their slim lead.
The Patriots next opportunity to take the lead came late in the 4th quarter with less than 3 minutes remaining in the game. After only throwing four passes the entire game up to that point, the Patriots offense completed consecutive passes of 40 yards and 20 yards to move the ball deep inside Mustang territory. Their next pass went into the end zone, but OJ Morris came away with a huge interception for Stanhope Elmore, and returned the ball near midfield.
The Mustangs’ offense was not able to run the clock out, but they punted and Pike Road took over on their own 10-yard line with only 1 minute remaining. A combination of big plays and defensive penalties saw the Patriots move the ball 70 yards, all the way from their 10-yard line to the Stanhope Elmore 20-yard line in just 40 seconds. The Patriots had all the momentum, and the Mustangs defense seemed to be falling apart, when the Patriots fumbled yet again, and the opportune Stanhope Elmore defense recovered to seal a hard fought victory for the seniors on their last ever game inside Foshee-Henderson stadium.
For the night, Bryant threw for 113 yards and 2 touchdowns, but also threw 5 interceptions. Senior Jackson Thomas, a Troy commit, had 6 receptions for 74 yards and 1 touchdown. He also rushed for 38 yards.
The Mustangs improve to 2-6 on the season, and 2-3 in Class 6A Region 2. Pike Road, which had won five games in a row after dropping the first two games of the season, falls to 5-3. They are still 4-1 in Class 6A Region 2, and will have a chance to win the Region Championship next week with a win over Carver.
The Mustangs travel to Cramton Bowl again next Friday to take on Park Crossing. The Thunderbirds are winless this year.
