McClain’s late TD delivers victory

Undefeated Seminole pulled out a dramatic 28-24 high school football win over visiting Spruce Creek Friday night when quarterback Timmy McClain returned after sitting out much of the game to drive his team 88 yards for a winning 4-yard touchdown run with15 seconds left.

McClain took the opening snap of the contest and did not return until the final drive, which forced head coach Eric Lodge to run a direct-snap misdirection style of offense most of the way.

“It has been a chaotic year and you have to be ready for all different types of scenarios,” Lodge said. “We just adapted to the moment and got it done.”

Jimmy Horn took a majority of those direct snaps in the wildcat formation and rushed 12 times for 142 yards and two scores for the No. 3 team in the Sentinel Super 16 area rankings. The game was scoreless in the second quarter until Horn raced 46 yards for a 7-0 lead.

Early in the third Horn struck again for Seminole (6-0) with a 48-yard run, stretching the advantage to 14-0.

The Hawks (3-3) got on the board when Kevin Minckler took a screen pass from Logan Garcia 35 yards to cut the deficit to14-7 with 4:15 left in the third.

Horn continued to put on a show as he returned a punt 64 yards for a TD, pushing the ‘Noles lead to 21-7.

Then things got crazy as a snap went over Horn’s head and was picked up by Hawks linebacker Jake Battillo, who returned the ball 24 yards for a score and cut the lead to eight as the extra point was missed, in part, because of awet field.

That slippery turf came into play again as Garcia fumbled the ball into the end zone on a third-and-goal at the Seminole 2. Sam Rizzo jumped on the fumble for Spruce Creek and the gamewas tied at 21 after a two-point catch from Minckler.

The Hawks settled for a 24-yard field goal from Aiden Lanier to take a brief 24-21 lead with 58 seconds left before McClain led the Seminole rally for a win.