Oct 4, 2008
When Southern had to have a big play on defense, they got it.
With less than 30 seconds to play in the game and Northern Durham driving for the tying touchdown, the Spartans defense sacked Northern quarterback Andrew Peacock on fourth down to preserve a 35-28 come-from-behind win.
On fourth-and-goal from the 3-yard line, the Knights broke the huddle with three receivers to the right. Peacock took the snap and looked to his right, but what appeared to be a rollout option play never had time to develop.
Southern brought an all-out blitz, pushing through a fatigued offensive line, and three Spartan defenders buried Peacock at the 10-yard line to effectively end the game.
On the critical play. Desmond Lawrence was the first man in the backfield.
“The gap blew wide open,” he said.
Southern coach Adrian Jones said, “Our defensive guys stepped up and we told them, ‘Hey, get one stop.’ And they did it. They made a good play.”
The rivalry game developed into a wild contest that saw Northern take a 21-7 lead in the first half only to allow two late scores before halftime. After trailing in the third quarter, the Knights grabbed a 28-27 late in the frame on a 21-yard touchdown pass from Peacock to Quashon Bagley.
But the Spartans answered early in the fourth quarter with a 65-yard drive capped off by Alonzo Hedgepath’s four-yard touchdown run, and they converted the two-point try with a pass from Alan Lea to Reese Wiggins.
Northern took possession of the ball for the final time with 4:40 remaining at the Southern 42-yard line. The Knights methodically moved the ball toward the end zone and gained a first and goal at the 8-yard line less than under two minutes to play. A completed pass on third down left the ball at the 3 and left the Knights with one play to try and tie the game.
The win was another in a string of close victories for Southern who have made the plays in crunch time.
The loss was an extremely tough one for Northern. After allowing an 87-yard touchdown return to Southern’s Wiggins on the game’s opening kickoff, the Knights scored 21 unanswered points. Peacock looked sharp and the Knights effectively mixed their running game with short passes to keep the chains moving.
After a seven-yard touchdown pass to Donovan Rasberry to draw within 7-6, Peacock was intercepted in the red zone on the Knights’ next possession. But the Spartan offense turned the ball over on a fumble at their 27, and the Knights made good on the second chance with a four-yard run by Jerone Holman. Southern’s next play from scrimmage resulted in an interception by Rasberry and set Northern up with a short field. They went 24 yards in four plays for a score, with Peacock finding Cliff Edwards in the end zone for a 21-7 lead.
With 2:30 left in the half, the Spartans offense awoke.
Fueled by a good punt return, the Spartans used just 1:06 to drive 32 yards and pull within 21-14. Lea turned in a stellar 18-yard run up the middle and dove into the end zone for the score and the PAT was good.
With the Spartans rejuvenated, Northern was unable to gain positive yards on their next possession. In fact they possessed the ball for just 37 seconds and punted on fourth down. Southern took over at Northern’s 41 and Lea turned in two more great runs, including one on fourth down, to get them to the 15-yard line. On the final play of the half, Lea found Tony Creecy wide open in the left corner of the end zone for a touchdown as the clock expired.
“I had Reese Wiggins on the post to pull the safety over and I had the [Creecy] one-on-one. I’d seen him sneak up. When he snuck up I just threw it over his head.”
Jones was happy his team got the ball back before the half and felt his team could score again quickly.
“We’ve been working on our fast tempo offense all week and we looked real good running it,” Jones said. “They couldn’t stop it. They had a lot of guys playing both ways, and that played into our hands.”
As for the circumstances that allowed the Spartans to gain a tie at halftime, Northern coach Anthony Sullivan acknowledged the Knights make some mistakes.
“We made some coaching errors … that’s our fault. Those two touchdowns, the opening kickoff and the last touchdown of the first half, those were coaching errors,” Sullivan said. “We get the ball back with 1:18, we got a little overzealous … wanting to make something happen. Rather than being smart with it and just going into the half with the lead. It was a poor coaching decision on my part. I’ll take that. We can’t spot a good team 14 points.”
With the game surprisingly tied, Lea and the Spartans went to the locker room to assess the first half.
Lawrence said the defense got an earful during the break.
“Coach told us we needed to be more disciplined if we were going to come back,” he said.
On their first possession, Southern drove 55 yards and Lea hit Wiggins with a 22-yard strike for a 27-21 lead.
Peacock rallied the Knights for a 28-27 lead before Hedgepath got the lead back for Southern and the Spartan defense finished the game.
“We came out a little bit lackadaisical,” Jones said. “We kind of took them for granted. But we told them all week, that’s a good team. And it’s a rivalry game. We came out kind of sluggish but these boys fought back."
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