Darlington gives up late score in loss
From Staff Reports
The Tigers went for a fourthand-goal early in the fourth quarter but didn’t convert. However, that left Landmark pinned deep at their own 5. A bad pitch to the running back was covered up by Landmark in their own end zone, giving Darlington a safety and a 12-7 advantage. However, the War Eagles final drive of the night — which included an acrobatic 40-yard catch by Tidwell — resulted in Blount’s TD pass to Stone in the corner of the end zone. Darlington’s last drive of the game in the final minute ended with an interception and Landmark ran out the clock to seal the win.
“I’m so proud of our kids,” Atha said. “We still had a great year. It’s gonna be hard to say goodbye to our 16 seniors, but we have a lot of great players coming back, so we’re looking forward to what we can do next season.”
Whatley led Darlington’s offense with 131 yards on 17 carries, while Elijah McKoy had 25 yards and Mason Tant had 36. Tidwell led Landmark with 134 yards on 13 attempts.
FAIRBURN — Seemingly one play away from gaining control of the game all night long, the Darlington Tigers instead saw their football season come to a sudden end in heartbreaking fashion last week in Fairburn, falling 13-12 to the Landmark Christian War Eagles in the Class A Private School state playoffs.
The game was a defensive struggle for both teams, with the Tigers trailing 7-3 at halftime. After scratching out to a 10-7 lead heading into the fourth quarter, Darlington saw several chances to build on the lead slip away. Landmark went ahead for good with 2:19 to play when quarterback Joey Blount hit Brandon Stone for a 22-yard touchdown pass.
“You just can’t make as many mistakes as we did against a good football team in the second round of the state playoffs and expect to win,” said a crestfallen Darlington coach Tommy Atha. “We just wasted too many opportunities, committed too many penalties, and ultimately, they made a couple of big plays and we didn’t.”
Perhaps the biggest chances for the Tigers came in the second half, when several Darlington defensive stands led to poor punts by Landmark.
The Tigers started several drives in War Eagle territory in the third and fourth quarter, but could only muster one touchdown. The other two points came when the Tigers defense swarmed a Landmark ballcarrier in the end zone for a safety.
“Our kids played really hard and I’m extremely proud of our effort,” Atha said, as his Tigers finish the season at 8-4. “If we take advantage of our opportunities, we really could have won. We just shot ourselves in the foot a few times, and those mistakes fall on me. Our defense kept them at bay for the most part, but those couple of big plays turned the game. I feel like we had some momentum, but we just couldn’t put them away.”
After a scoreless first quarter, Landmark (10-1) finally struck first with 9:16 to play in the second quarter, when tailback Lofton Tidwell found the end zone from 10 yards out. Tom Austin’s extra point made it 7-0.
On the Tigers’ next drive, Sam Berry converted a 36-yard field goal to cut the gap to 7-3. Darlington drove across midfield on the final drive of the half, but with 46 seconds left, Berry’s 43-yard field goal attempt came up inches short, hitting the crossbar and bouncing off.
In the third quarter, the Tigers finally climbed in front, capping off an impressive drive with a 14-yard touchdown run by Tijai Whatley. Berry’s PAT gave Darlington its first lead at 10-7.