Southern Durham quarterback Alan Lea dives across the goal line for a touchdown.
Sep 5, 2008
Southern Durham secured a dramatic 33-27 win Thursday over Wake-Forest Rolesville with a 6-yard touchdown run by Alonzo Hedgepath in the first overtime.
Southern held off a late drive by the Cougars when the Spartans forced and recovered a fumble at their own 9-yard line with under a minute to play in regulation.
This game was a back and forth affair and lived up to the billing as a potential battle royal between two of the area’s best teams.
While disappointed with the loss, Cougars coach Earl Smith appreciated the quality of the competition.
“That’s a good football team right there”, Smith said. “When you play a team that’s as fast as they are, you can’t make mistakes. Our first two opponents weren’t even in the same ballpark.”
A relieved Southern head coach Adrian Jones didn’t want think about what would have happened had his team not come away victorious.
“This is huge,” Jones said. “If we don’t get this win tonight. …”
Spartans quarterback Alan Lea had a solid game, completing 13 of 23 attempts for 164 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He also ran for a nine-yard score in the contest.
Because he missed practice on Monday, Jones allowed junior A.J. Marshall to start the game at quarterback before bringing Lea in after a few series. Jones was happy with the way Lea responded.
“He came out and did a great job,” Jones said. “He didn’t get mad because he wasn’t in the game and was a leader tonight.”
Another leader was Lamont Pettiford, who helped swing the tide in the second half with hard-nosed running between the tackles. He broke a long run in the forth quarter and finished with 105 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries. But he made an even bigger contribution to the win by being unselfish.
Pettiford saw the Cougars were keying on him defensively and late in the fourth quarter and overtime suggested to the Southern coaching staff that they give Hedgepath the ball instead.
“That’s the type of guy Lamont is,” said Jones. “He wants to win. It’s all about the team, not him.”
Southern came flying out of the gate when Reese Wiggins took the opening kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown to give the Spartans a 6-0 lead. Wake-Forest Rolesville rallied for 14 unanswered points before Southern scored a late touchdown to leave the score 20-17 at the half.
Without their best running back Trea Jones, who was cramping up, the Cougars wrestled the momentum back and scored 10 more unanswered in the third quarter to lead 27-20. Late in the third, a critical roughing the kicker penalty gave Southern new life. On the ensuing first down, Lea hit Wiggins for a 44-yard gain. On the next play Pettiford bulled his way up the middle and into the end zone for a 20-yard score to tie it 27-27.
On Southern’s next possession, Pettiford put the Spartans offense in position to seal the win when he turned in one of the biggest plays of the game, a 60-yard gallup to the Cougars 10-yard line. But Southern couldn’t punch it in and a 29-yard field goal try was no good.
Wake Forest-Rolesville took possession with 7:04 on the clock and methodically moved the ball down the field to Southern’s 18-yard line with just a minute to play. On a sideline completion that would have been close to a first down, Southern defenders forced and recovered a fumble to effectively send the game into overtime. Southern defensive coordinator Daren Hart explained that he “told the guys to sit on it (the sideline route) because they were throwing it to the sticks just to maintain first downs. We had two guys there once the ball hit the ground and we came up with a big play.”
With each team assured of one possession from the 10-yard line, Southern stopped the Cougars on three straight plays in the overtime and blocked a 27-yard field goal attempt. Hedgepath carried for four yards on the first play for Southern then plowed his way into the end zone on the next for the win. The Southern bench emptied onto the field and mobbed their offensive unit.
Looking forward, Smith remained optimistic.
“We’re not going to be undefeated, but we can still win the conference championship,” Smith said. “We can still win the state championship”
Asked if his team felt a sense of redemption with the win, Jones nodded and said: “We proved a lot of people wrong. ‘Cause a lot of people were thinking ‘here they go again, they’re not as good as they think (they are).’ We’re a good team.”
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