Ben’s Ford loses 4th-quarter lead, falls 26-13
Published 11:04 pm Friday, August 31, 2018
- DAILY NEWS PHOTO/Justin Schuver Ben's Ford Christian School's Alston Moore looks for blocks in Friday's game against Amite School Center.
Ben’s Ford led Amite School Center 13-6 after three quarters of play, but the visiting Rebels scored 20 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to come away with a 26-13 victory Friday night.
“It’s been some of the same mistakes that we’ve made so far this season,” Ben’s Ford coach Dean King said. “We need to figure out how to play for all four quarters of a football game.”
The Eagles (1-2) scored on their first possession of the game to take an early 7-0 lead. Quarterback Tyler Winstead completed an 8-yard touchdown pass to Jarrett Williams with 9:30 left in the first quarter. Justin Stewart added the extra point.
Amite School Center responded with a touchdown of its own. Connor Hartzog completed a 14-yard scoring pass to Austin Griffin, but the Rebels failed on a two-point conversion run.
Ben’s Ford increased its lead with an exciting drive at the end of the first half. The Eagles took over the ball on their own 47-yard line with just 29 seconds remaining in the second quarter.
Winstead completed a short pass to Alston Moore and followed that with a 32-yard completion to Tucker Keating with 9 seconds left. The Eagles elected not to call timeout, and on the next play Winstead found Justin Moore open for a touchdown in the left corner of the endzone with just 2 seconds on the clock. The extra point failed, but Ben’s Ford still led 13-6 at halftime.
Griffin and Hartzog took over in the fourth quarter, after a scoreless third.
On fourth-and-5 from the Ben’s Ford 25, Hartzog passed to Griffin and he pulled down the ball in double coverage for a touchdown. Hartzog then added the two-point conversion run to put the Rebels ahead for the first time, 14-13, with 11:01 left in the fourth quarter.
Hartzog also completed an 82-yard touchdown pass to Griffin with 7 minutes left, and ran for a long 52-yard touchdown of his own with 4:22 remaining on the clock.
“We knew that he could be a game-changer,” King said, of Griffin’s play. “He just wanted to make more plays than we did.”
Ben’s Ford will play on the road next Friday at Centreville Academy.
