NGAC
and Rossville caught a break as Tye Whaley recovered an onside kick. But the Gordon Lee defense would tighten up as Cade Peterson would stone Landon Ownby four yards short on a fourthdown fake punt near midfield.
Three plays and one 15-yard Bulldog penalty later, Ellis went off left tackle for a 34yard score to add to the lead. Rossville would drive to the Trojans’ 13 in the closing seconds of the half, but a final pass attempt would fall incomplete in the endzone as Gordon Lee carried a 20-8 lead into intermission.
Whaley provided a spark to open the second half, going 27 yards on the first play of the third quarter before scoring on a 13-yard inside counter some 90 seconds later. Gordon Casteel added the conversion and suddenly the Bulldogs trailed by just four points, 20-16, with 6:11 left in the third.
A holding penalty would wipe out a 41yard TD run by Ellis on the fifth play of Gordon Lee’s next possession. But on second-and-18 from midfield, quarterback Blake Groce rolled out on a play-action pass and hit Brody Cobb out of the backfield for a big 22-yard gain to keep the chains moving.
Two plays later, Ellis got a nice block from Cobb and went off left tackle once more for a 19-yard score. Cobb hauled in the two-point pass to boost the lead to 28-16 with 2:23 left in the third.
Rossville would get the ball back for two final possessions in the final 10:23. A long drive would move the ball to the Gordon Lee 31, but cornerback Bryce James, who recovered the fumbled kickoff earlier in the game, broke up a fourthdown pass to snuff out the drive with 4:40 remaining.
A 69-yard TD run by Ellis on the very next play would be wiped out on a holding call and Gordon Lee would have to punt with 1:58 to go. The Bulldogs would move the ball down to the Trojans’ 16, but Peterson would pick off one final Preston Homsombath pass in the endzone with 41 seconds left to seal the victory.
Cobb finished with 24 yards on five carries and caught both passes from Groce for 38 important yards as the Trojans finished with 222 yards of total offense.
Rossville also ended up with 222 yards, all coming on the ground. Whaley led the way with 95 yards on 13 carries. Ownby finished with 78 yards on 10 attempts and Sharp had 37 yards on four carries.
“Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it and that’s really what has happened in this league over the years,” said Rossville head coach Steve Lewis, whose team finished the year 6-2. “It seems like whichever team wins the matchup in the regular season gets beat by that same team in the championship. We weren’t complacent or anything like that. Gordon Lee just had a good game plan. They ran something at us that, frankly, we just couldn’t stop and that’s really all it boils down to.
“I just hate for our kids. We’ve had three good years with a lot of them and they’ve become great young men. We never have to really get on them or worry about them doing something stupid. I’m just very proud of them.”
“I knew Steve wouldn’t let his team quit,” McAllister said. “He’s a good friend, a great coach and I’ve learned a lot from him over the years. I knew Rossville wouldn’t quit, but I knew we wouldn’t either. We’d come too far to quit.
“Even after we got beat so bad by Heritage in our first game, I had a good feeling about our team, especially after they way they responded the very next game against Trion. I’ve never been around a team with this much heart.”