Late rally sends Pickens past Ridgeland
Trailing 18-14 to start the fourth quarter, the Pickens Dragons shocked Ridgeland with a pair touchdowns just 2:37 apart to claim a 27-18 victory in Jasper on Saturday night to keep their own Region 7-AAAA playoff hopes alive, while further jumbling up the region pecking order behind frontrunning Cedartown.
At 3-0, the Bulldogs are the only team still unbeaten in region play, while the Dragons are now tied with Central-carroll at 1-1. Those two have yet to meet as their Oct. 30 game had to be postponed due to COVID-19.
Central is set to play at Cedartown this Friday, while Pickens will be back at home to take on Heritage and Northwest Whitfield will host Ridgeland in another huge match-up.
Pickens (3-4) scored on its first drive of the night as Jarod Whitmore ran one in from 11 yards out, but the Dragons missed a chance to add to their lead with less than a minute to play in the opening quarter as a surefire touchdown pass was dropped in the endzone.
Ridgeland quarterback Judd Anderson was picked off by Devin Hand early in the second quarter, but the Panthers defense forced a turnover on downs at the Ridgeland 32 to stop Pickens’ ensuing drive.
Anderson made up for the miscue on the first play of Ridgeland’s next possession as he connected with Ke’sean Eubanks for a 52-yard gain
down to the Dragons’ 16-yard line. Three plays later, Jeremiah Turner followed his blockers on a 5-yard TD run, but a high snap resulted in the extra point being blocked, keeping it at 7-6, which would end up being the score at halftime.
However, it wouldn’t stay 7-6 for long as on the third play of the half, Turner found a gap to his right and exploded past the Pickens defense for a 50-yard touchdown. A conversion run failed, but Ridgeland went in front for the first time in the game, 12-7.
Pickens answered with a nice nineplay, 65-yard drive, scoring on a 28yard post throw to Whitmore from
quarterback Collin Kellogg. The PAT put the home team back in the lead, 1412, with 5:53 left in the third quarter.
A field possession battle would ensue for the rest of the period. But on the final play of the quarter, Turner burst through a seam up the middle and raced 39 yards for his third touchdown of the night. Another high snap thwarted the PAT attempt, but the Panthers led by four with one quarter remaining.
Pickens used three big gains to move the ball to the Ridgeland 7, but a short run was followed by a bad snap that
Kellogg had to cover for a huge 16-yard loss. An incomplete pass made it fourthand-goal at the Ridgeland 22 and the Dragons nearly converted it as a receiver was pushed out of bounds inside the 1-yard line on the next play.
However, Pickens was flagged for a 5-yard penalty, leaving Ridgeland with the tricky decision of taking the ball just inches in front of its own goal line or accept the penalty and force the Dragons to have to find the endzone on one play from 27 yards out.
The Panthers opted to accept the penalty, but Pickens stunned Ridgeland as Mykel Hand went up between a pair of defenders for a leaping catch in the endzone to give his team a 20-18 lead with 8:54 to play after the PAT was missed.
Before Ridgeland could get over the shock of the surprising score, Pickens pulled another stunner with a successful onside kick as Kadyn Hampton recovered for the Dragons. Four plays later, Hampton finished what he started with a back-breaking 20-yard touchdown run to make it a two-score game with 6:17 left. The Dragons’ second interception of the night with 2:12 to go, this one by Conor Browning, cemented the victory.
Kellogg went 9 of 19 in the air for 145 yards and two scores and added 44 yards on 15 carries. Whitmore had 21 rushes for 99 yards and Hand led the Dragons with 65 yards on two catches.
Turner racked up 103 yards on just eight carries with 90 yards coming in the second half, but Ridgeland was limited to just 105 total yards rushing on 19 attempts. Anderson ended up with 133 yards on 8 of 21 passing, while Eubanks led the Panthers with 68 yards on two catches. Turner also had a 66-yard TD catch wiped out by a holding call with four minutes to go in the opening half.
Henry Ellis had five grabs for 40 yards and had a strong night punting the ball, finishing with five punts for an average of 42 yards. Three kicks were downed inside the 20, including a 54-yard missile. He also had a 50-yarder at the end of the first half that hit inside the 2-yard line, bounced straight up in the air and was downed by the Panthers a step shy of the endzone.