Will Stansfield successfully kicked
each of his three field goal attempts, Chris Roberts made an amazing
catch on a
Brett Gantt touchdown pass, and the Trojans forced six turnovers in a
rather sloppy game with an amazingly exciting, and perhaps somewhat
controversial finish. A potential game-winning field goal with 4
seconds remaining failed, and St. James hung on for their first road
playoff win in 17 years (9 attempts), defeating the 9th ranked and
Region 2 champion Ashford Yellow Jackets 22-20 in Ashford in the first
round of the 2003 Alabama High School Athletic Association 4A State
Playoffs.
St. James failed to convert a first down on their initial drive of the
game. A long pass and run gave Ashford the ball on the Trojan 29
on their first play from scrimmage. After a loss and a penalty,
Chris Roberts intercepted a Jacket pass at the 18 yard line and
returned it to the Trojan 40. However, on the very next play,
Yellow Jacket Travanno Dawsey read a flanker screen attempt
beautifully. He stepped in, intercepted the ball, and sped 31
yards untouched into the endzone. He then converted his own extra
point for a 7-0 Ashford lead less than three minutes into the game.
For the last two games, St. James bucked its propensity in earlier
games to strike often, but quickly, and lose the time of possession
battle. However, on this night where the Trojans more than
doubled time of possession and ran
75 offensive plays to Ashford's 33, St. James ground out tough yardage
time
and time again through the Ashford defensive line. After the
Yellow Jacket kickoff sailed out of bounds, Ted Brewer ran for two
first downs and Brett Gantt completed one of his only 3 successful
passes in the first half (of 18 tries) to Taylor Nelson for 15 yards
and another first down. The drive was extended three plays later
on a defensive pass interference penalty on a fourth down and 14
attempt. From there, St. James could only manage one yard on the
next three plays, and Will Stansfield was called in to kick. His
field goal from 30 yards was high and straight and just cleared the
crossbar by a few feet, but was good and the Trojans had cut the lead
to 7-3.
Two plays later, Ashford committed their second of six turnovers.
From the Jacket 33, Gantt converted two first downs on
quarterback keepers. On third down and three from the Yellow
Jacket 4, Matt Ward took a handoff wide and dove just into the endzone
as the quarter time horn was blaring. Stansfield's extra point
attempt was wide, but at the end of the first quarter, St. James had
their first lead of the game at 9-7.
Ashford drove into Trojan territory again, but Will Thrasher
intercepted a pass at the Trojan 11. However, two plays later,
Demetrius Melton returned the favor for the Jackets, intercepting at
the Trojan 34 and returning 10 yards. On the next play, Reginald
Melton took the handoff around right end, avoided early traffic, and
pulled away from tacklers as he snuck into the corner of the endzone
for a touchdown. Dawsey's kick again was true, and Ashford
regained the lead at 14-9, still early in the second quarter.
St. James converted one first down, but was forced to punt. Ted
Brewer's punt was high but short, and an upman caught the ball on the
fly. However, Trojans swarmed him and Webb Chastain grabbed the
ball and simply wrestled it away from the receiver returning possession
to St. James. Three plays
later, Gantt converted a third down and was awarded 15 extra yards on a
face
mask penalty to the Jacket 24. However, from the 17, a no gain on
fourth
and three turned the ball over on downs. The Trojan defense
stiffened
and held Ashford to a 3 and out and forced a punt with time fading in
the
half. A penalty on the return moved the ball back to the Trojan
37.
On first down, Gantt lifted a pass to a wide open Will Thrasher
who
cruised down the sidelines for a 45 yard gain and the Trojans were in
business
again at the Jacket 18. After a short gain and two incomplete
passes,
Stansfield was called on again and converted a 32 yard field goal (a
career
long) just before halftime, and St. James cut the margin to 2, at
14-12.
The Trojans tried and actually recovered an onside squib kick,
but
could not convert from the 41 yard line on the last play of the half.
Each team was three and out and forced to punt on their opening second
half drives. On Ashford's second drive, Will Thrasher picked off
his second pass of the game and returned it four yards to the Trojan
47. From there,
it was Brewer time. Ted Brewer took the handoff on seven
consecutive running plays, gaining 4, 5, 13, 2, 9, 3, and 1 yards.
On third down from the Ashford 16, Gantt lifted a pass over the
middle to Chris Roberts who made perhaps the catch of the year on an
outstanding one handed grab at
knee level at the goal line between three converging Ashford defenders
for
a Trojan touchdown. Stansfield's extra point this time was good,
and
St. James was again back in front at 19-14 with just over three minutes
left
in the third quarter.
After the ensuing kickoff was muffed and only returned to the 12 yard
line, it appeared the Trojans had all the momentum. They did, for
about 10 seconds. On first down, Reginald Melton took the handoff
on the same play on which he had scored from 24 yards earlier, broke
through the line and secondary, and cruised for his second touchdown,
this one of 88 yards. With a one point lead, the Jackets opted to
go for two, but Demetrius Melton was stopped a yard short of the
endzone on the conversion. However, the lead had changed hands
again to Ashford's favor at 20-19.
The next drive may have been the Trojans' drive of the year.
After a penalty on the kickoff return pushed the ball back to the
Trojan 10, St. James held the ball for the next 19 plays and the next
8:15 on the clock. Gantt, who had only completed 3 of 18 passes
in the first half, with a pair of interceptions, completed 5 of his 6
second half passes as Ashford was defending almost extensively for the
suddenly successful running game. Matt Ward caught the first
completion for 15 yards on a key third down and 12 play just before the
end of the third quarter. Five plays later, Greg Aitken
caught a 17 yard pass over the middle on a third and 7 play. A
Ted Brewer run gave the Trojans first and goal from the Ashford 9.
Two plays later, from the one, the Trojans could not score.
On fourth from the one, while setting up for a go-ahead field
goal, a delay penalty
pushed St. James back to the six. However, Stansfield converted
on
his third (and fifth consecutive in the last two games) field goal,
from 23
yards out, and the Trojans were back up after the sixth lead change in
the
game, at 22-20, with 6:54 remaining.
After a Trojan kick out of bounds, Ashford moved forward. On a
fourth down play from the Trojan 48, a defensive holding penalty
overruled an incomplete pass and gave the Jackets one of their only six
first downs in the game at the 38. However, an offensive holding
penalty, a quarterback sack, and a loss on a pass completion set
Ashford up with fourth and 29 from their own 43 with about two minutes
remaining. From here, things got very interesting. Ashford,
knowing the Trojans would be running the ball and running the clock,
probably could not afford to punt but a fourth down of that distance
would be difficult to convert. However, Ashford snapped the ball
to punter Anthony Crawford who rared back to find a suddenly wide open
Muta Bolden down the sidelines. Matt Ward, the Trojan punt
returner who may have been out of place on the play, fortunately,
managed to run him down and make an apparent touchdown saving tackle at
the Trojan 4 yard line as the Jackets stands were going crazy.
However, a flag was thrown at
the location where the ball was placed. The officials huddled
together for several minutes discussing the flag and waving both teams
back from the conference. Suddenly, the Trojans on the field
started jumping with joy and the ball was then returned to the original
line of scrimmage. Bolden was called for an illegal participation
penalty on the pass reception, which
negated the play, and understandably a chorus of boos and sneers rang
from
the most likely puzzled Ashford supporters.
With all of the confusion of the previous play, the ball was not marked
in the right place on the return as the yard marker had been moved, but
the
Ashford fourth down pass attempt which followed was incomplete, and
with
1:34 remaining and Ashford down to two timeouts, the Trojans had the
ball
at the Jacket 45 ready to run out the clock. An unsportsmanlike
conduct
penalty was tagged on, moving the ball down to the 30 yard line, before
a
play was run. This yardage might have proven to be extremely
costly.
St. James ran one play before Ashford called their second time
out,
but on third down, a handoff was fumbled backwards and fallen on by
Ashford
at the their own 37 yard line with 36 seconds and a timeout remaining
and
the Jacket sidelines were again going crazy with yet another chance to
claim
a victory. A five yard penalty and a six yard pass completion
took
up 8 seconds before the Jackets called their final timeout. On
second
down from the Yellow Jacket 38, quarterback Neil Brackin connected on a
seemingly
safe short pass to Willie Collins. However, he evaded early
tacklers,
crossed the field, and began running down the sidelines. A
touchdown
saving tackle stopped him as he went out of bounds at the Trojan 11
yard
line with 14 seconds remaining. An incomplete pass to the endzone
on
first down cost six seconds, and Ashford decided to go for the game
winning
field goal on second down. Dawsey lined up on the near hashmark
from
28 yards out with a semi-sharp angle. However, his kick was
almost
straight and the ball was spinning with points facing up and down as it
sailed
harmlessly into the endzone as the Trojan sidelines and supporters
burst
out with noise and celebration.
It took a minute or so for the Trojans to regroup enough to line up and
snap the ball for the final play of the game with four seconds
remaining,
but they did, as Gantt very safely downed the ball two yards in the
backfield, and as time ran out the Trojans celebrated their
exhilirating victory over Region 2's first seed.
GAME ELEVEN SIDELINE STATISTICS
ST. JAMES
RUSHING 51 attempts 171 yards 1 TD (3.35
yards per carry)
42 Brewer 32 / 120
10 Gantt
14 / 48
34 Thrasher 2 / 4
30
Ward 3 / - 1 (1 TD)
PASSING 8 completions 24
attempts 2
INTs 126 yards 1 TD (no sacks of)
10 Gantt 8
- 24 - 2 126 yards 1 TD
RECEIVING
34 Thrasher 1 / 45
6 Roberts
2 / 25 (1 TD)
3 Nelson 2 / 25
23
Aitken 1 / 17
30 Ward 2 / 14
TOTAL YARDS: 297
KICKS: XP 1 / 2
FG 3 / 3 (30 made, 32 made, 23 made)
2 POINT CONVERSIONS: 0 / 0
KICKOFFS:
6 (51,EZ,19,OB,58,OB) PUNTS: 3
(32,18,30)
KO RETURNS: 2 (3,12)
PUNT RETURNS: 2
(0fc,0fc)
INTERCEPTION
RETURNS: 3 (22,0,4)
FIRST DOWNS: 20 (13 rushing, 5 passing, 2
penalty)
FUMBLES: 2, lost 1
TURNOVER MARGIN: + 3
PENALTIES: 5 / 40 yards
TIME OF POSSESSION: 32:18
ASHFORD
RUSHING 21 attempts 178 yards 2
TDs (8.48 yards per carry,
88 on one carry)
PASSING 6 completions 12
attempts 3
INTs 97 yards 0 TDs (1 sack of, - 10 yards)
TOTAL YARDS: 275
KICKS: XP 2 / 2 FG
0 / 1 (28 missed)
2 POINT CONVERSIONS: 0 / 1
KICKOFFS: 4
(EZ,OB,42,52)
PUNTS: 2 (28,22)
KO RETURNS: 3 (23,0f,10)
PUNT RETURNS: 2 (0f, 0fc)
FIRST DOWNS: 8 (5 rushing, 3 passing)
FUMBLES: 3, lost 3
PENALTIES: 8 / 74 yards
TIME OF POSSESSION: 15:42