Scott County turns back rival Great Crossing with two red-zone stops in fourth quarter
Within the span of four minutes, Scott County’s defense faced two Great Crossing drives into prime scoring position in front of the Cardinals’ goal line in the fourth quarter.
The Warhawks had rallied to cut the Cardinals’ lead to 21-19 with two touchdowns in the third quarter and seemed to have all the momentum to press on and get both the first playoff win in program history and first victory over their sister school.
But Scott County’s defense held and so did the 21-19 score line as the Cardinals advanced to next week’s district championship.
“When they started breathing down our neck, we realized if we wanted to practice and play next week we had to kick it into the next gear. So that’s what we did,” said senior fullback Luke Colvin who rushed for a game-high 119 yards and two touchdowns.
Colvin got the ball as Scott County needed a first down to drain Great Crossing’s final timeout and seal the game in the final two minutes.
“That last carry, all I thought was ‘put my head down and run. I covered that ball with two hands and I kept trucking,” Colvin said. “That was our season. That was the next round. I ain’t even worried about this no more. I’m ready to go get back on the practice field and keep working.”
A 12-play Great Crossing drive got the Warhawks all the way to the Scott County 14-yard line but on fourth-and-11, Scott County’s Isaac Krebs sacked Warhawks QB Gabe Nichols to turn the ball over on downs early in the fourth quarter.
Then, after four unsuccessful Scott County plays, a holding penalty and a botched punt snap gave Great Crossing the ball on the Cardinals’ 12-yard line, Scott County’s defense rose to the occasion again.
Three Zach Morris rushes could only get 8 yards, putting Great Crossing in another red zone fourth down situation. Nichols’ fourth-and-4 pass sailed through the end zone.
“What we had to do is just stay physical and stay on our man and just keep Gabe inside because we know he’ll roll out and he can still throw it,” said Scott County two-way standout Jeremy Hamilton. “So, we just did our best to contain him and the wideouts.”
Scott County Coach Jim McKee acknowledged the misplayed punt snap put his team in a difficult situation.
“I felt like they would get them stopped,” McKee said of his defense, run by coordinator and Scott County alumnus Monty McIntyre and two coaches who played for McKee earlier in his tenure, Artie Trent and Chris Travis. “We don’t have a lot of staff meetings, because I know Monty’s going to take care of business.”
McKee credited Great Crossing’s defense for getting the Warhawks back into the game.
“They deserve a lot of credit defensively. They really stuffed us up in the second half,” McKee said.
Great Crossing had one last chance to try to score after a Scott punt with 2 minutes left, but Andrew Willhite picked off Nichols’ deep throw over the middle on the Warhawks’ first play to essentially seal the game.
It took awhile for Scott County and Great Crossing to settle into this rematch of the Cardinals’ 14-6 regular-season win on Oct. 1, but when they did, touchdowns came in a burst.
Each team had punted three times before Andrew Hickey’s 55-yard bomb to Jeremy Hamilton blew the lid off the end zone for a 7-0 Scott County lead 8:03 before halftime.
A Great Crossing fumble on its next play from scrimmage set up Scott County on the Warhawks’ 13-yard line. It took the Cardinals four plays to punch it over the goal line on a Colvin 1-yard run to make it 14-0 two minutes later.
Then came a Great Crossing trick play as Kalib Perry lined up at quarterback instead of starting signal-caller Nichols. Perry rolled right and turned upfield as if to run which drew the attention of the defender responsible for wideout Zackarrey Kelley. Perry lofted a pass to a wide-open Kelley downfield for a 61-yard TD pass to cut their deficit to 14-7 with 5:28 left in the second quarter.
Scott County answered with its final TD of the game after a seven-play, 55-yard drive that used all but the last 55 seconds before halftime. Colvin scored his second TD of the game from 5 yards out for a 21-7 lead at the break.
Great Crossing ends its third football season with a winning record of 8-3. The Warhawks went 1-10 in their first season in 2019 and had a 3-5 mark last year. Though disappointed in the result, Coach Ricky Bowling said his team fought to the end.
“We’ve been through the ups and the downs and they always came back willing to work,” Bowling said. “And, you know, we didn’t quit tonight. We battled, put ourselves in great positions. The defense did a hell of a job and gave us several opportunities. And Scott County did a great job. They held us out of the end zone. Props to them. But I can’t say enough how proud I am of this team. We’re happy for our seniors to have had a great season.”
Scott County (6-5) will travel to Frederick Douglass to play for the district title next week. Douglas beat the Cardinals 35-0 on Sept. 24.
“There’s not a lot I can tell you about Douglass, right now, but we’re gonna come at them as hard as we can and we’re gonna try our best,” Hamilton said.
This story was originally published November 6, 2021 at 8:39 AM.
