Nov 22, 2008
HOPE MILLS — Fifth-seeded Leesville Road was in familiar playoff territory Friday night, but he Pride could not repeat their winning performance from a year ago and lost to South View 41-24.
The fourth-seeded Tigers wasted little time, scoring on their first possession. The Pride defense kept the Tigers contained during the drive, but a fourth-down conversion and a 48-yard pass on third and long helped South View keep the chains moving. Senior fullback Vincent Tompkins sealed the drive for the Tigers with a two-yard run.
Leesville Road answered late in the first quarter on a drive powered by senior running back Zach Gentry. Gentry rushed for 30 yards during the 50-yard drive, which was capped off with a one-yard touchdown run from Ryan Mangum.
Both teams continued to slug it out in the second quarter. Tompkins scored on another short run to put the Tigers ahead, and the Pride responded with a 25-yard field goal from Mangum. South View stretched their lead to 10 when quarterback Deshean Townsend hit Frank Turner for a 30-yard strike with 1:01 let in the half.
It appeared that Leesville would take the 10-point deficit into the break, but quarterback Jake Groeschen marched the offense down the field and punctuated the 68-yard drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Logan Bible with only four seconds left on the clock.
The snack-bar line was buzzing during the break with talk of a close game that would probably come down to the last possession, but the South View defense stepped up while their offense kept rolling, preventing the Pride from staging a comeback.
Leesville looked strong on their opening drive, working the ball down to the Tigers’ eight-yard line. The Pride was denied the end zone, and South View blocked a 25-yard field goal attempt to stop Leesville from tying the game.
Five minutes later, Vincent Tompkins crossed the goal line for his third touchdown of the evening to give the Tigers a ten-point lead. South View defensive back Taurian Shropshire intercepted a Jake Groeschen pass on the ensuing drive, setting up a 48-yard scoring drive that gave the Tigers a 34-17 lead with 10 minutes to play.
Leesville Road struck-back quickly when Groeschen connected with Cameron Todd to end a drive that lasted a little over 90 seconds. The Pride defense stopped the Tigers on the ensuing possession, keeping the hope of a come-from-behind victory alive, but the Pride was unable to convert on their next drive.
Leesville got the ball back with 2:27 left in the game, but Tiger linebacker Richard Jeffrey sealed the victory for South View with a 75-yard interception return.
The South View defense picked-off three Jake Groeschen passes in the second half while holding the Pride to just seven points.
Despite the interceptions, coach David Green was proud of his quarterback’s performance, which featured 237 passing yards combined with 47 yards on the ground.
“Jake had a really nice ball game for us,” said Green. “He had a couple of picks there at the end, but we were down and throwing on every down, and that put him in a bad position. Up until that point, though, he had an outstanding game.”
Coach Green also highlighted the brilliant play of his offensive line but pointed out that the Pride defense fell short of its goals for the evening by allowing their opponent to amass 398 yards on offense.
“It just wasn’t a good night for us defensively,” he said. “They [South View] did exactly what we thought they’d do—we just weren’t aggressive.”
The loss was a definite disappointment for the Pride, but Coach Green was quick to congratulate his team for their hard work during the successful 2008 campaign.
“It’s been a great season for them. They’ve accomplished a great deal. Ten wins is certainly a good season and probably more than what most people thought they would do. I’m proud of their effort, it has been a good year, and we just want to build on it and keep going.”
With the loss, the Pride ended their season with an overall record of 10-3. South View will advance to the 4-AA eastern regional semi-finals next week, where they will face cross-town rival Jack Britt.
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