AVONDALE – After seeing one of its own carted off on the field and into an awaiting ambulance, it would have been easy to lose focus and understandably not play up to its full potential and call it a night. However, a family never gives up on its own and lays it all on the line for each other.
As they say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger as No. 7 Lee rallied behind its injured teammate rolling to a 48-24 District 3-7A win over visiting No. 9 Columbia in the Backyard.
When senior lineman Dominic Phan laid motionless on the field in agonizing pain after colliding with a Columbia lineman and was transported to St. Vincent Hospital with an apparent leg injury; the team huddled up during the lengthy delay and immediately switched its mind into lets win this for Dominic.
Phan sat up and gave his teammates and the crowd thumps up, which only seem to fire up the team even more.
Following the lengthy delay, ahead 20-12 early in the second quarter, the Lee offense went quickly back to work. Derrick Jones connected with Tahveon Nicholson for a 32 yard completion down to the 21-yard line on the ensuing play from scrimmage following the delay.
Nicholson rumbled 21 yards down the left sideline untouched for a 28-12 lead with 8:55 left till halftime. The announcer followed with ‘that was one for was Dominic’.
From there it only got worse for Columbia as a shanked punt set up the Generals at midfield and in striking distance again.
Faced with fourth and 5, Lee coach OJ Small called for the punt team to come out, to which a disappointed Jones showed some frustration thinking his coach should have gone for it. Small called a timeout and huddled up the offense and decided to gamble a bit trusting his senior signal caller.
Jones delivered with a 16-yard run to pick up the first down and capped the drive with a 1-yard sneak increasing the lead to 35-12.
The reverse of the original call on the field was the critical point of the game as the Tigers would have had possession of the ball and trailed only by two scores and instead trailed by three suddenly near halftime.
Columbia switched quarterbacks taking out Dylan Blair and replacing him with lefty Jordan Smith to try to get some rhythm on offense and perhaps a much needed spark throughout the game.
Smith, who is the more dual threat quarterback, used his scrambling ability to pick up key first downs on the drive. He faked a hand off to Teon Dollard and raced 5 yards for a score cutting the lead to 35-18 just before half.
The second half was quiet the opposite of the first half as the first half became a track meet, the first team Lee defense pitched a shut out in the second half, thanks in part to Dequan Jackson, Eugene Bowman, Vincent Davis.
As Columbia received the second half kickoff and appeared on its way of possibly getting back in the game driving down to the 15-yard line; Trevor James sacked Blair and forced a fumble, which was recovered by Donnie Cosby.
Two possessions later, Jackson stripped the ball away from receiver TJ Jones and Eugene Bowman picked up the loose ball and returned it to the 35 yard line.
William Guyton converted the turnover into points racing 19 yards for a score and a 42-18 lead halfway through the third quarter.
Two possessions later, Bowman knocked down a pass and Jackson sacked Blair forcing another quick three and out.
Jones connected with Teddy Ingram in stride at the 40 and Ingram raced the final 40 yards alone to complete the 80-yard touchdown pass and 48-18 lead minute into the fourth quarter.
James sacked Blair again on the ensuing drive and Jackson hauled in a interception to kill another potential Tigers scoring drive.
Jackson recovered a fumble on the Tigers next drive as well before being taken out of the game.
Small took out his first string defense midway through the fourth quarter as the Generals defense pitched a second half shut out on the potent Tigers offense.
With the backups in, the Tigers moved down the field in the closing minutes and Smith connected with Williams for a 7 yard touchdown completion cutting the lead to 48-24 with 1:23 left in the game.
While the second half was a bit more defensive as the Generals shut out the Tigers, the first half became a track meet with 43 points scored.
Ingram started off the game with a bang returning the opening kickoff 76 yards down to the 15 yard line. Two plays later, Jones found Caldwell for a 11 yard completion in the end zone and a quick 7-0 lead seconds into the game.
Aaron Watley capped the ensuing drive with a 9 yard run putting the Generals ahead 14-0 barely four minutes into the game.
Columbia quickly answered though as Blair found Jamille Bullock wide open for a 63 yard completion, which set up Dollard 4 yard run cutting the lead to 14-6 a minute later.
However, every time Columbia would score early on, Lee had an answer.
Nicholson swept 29 yards for an apparent score but it was called back for holding, three plays later he was on the receiving end of a 34-yard touchdown completion and a 21-6 lead midway through the first.
The Tigers went into the hurry up offense and began feeding Kylen Callum the ball over and over again to try to wear down the Generals defense. Smith found Dollard for a big gain and then connected with Jaden Williams across the middle for a 6-yard completion cutting the lead to 21-12 with under a minute left in the first quarter.
As the second quarter began, the highly scoring wild and exciting first quarter quickly became a sober one as Phan and two other players all went down on a play. While the other two players eventually got up, Phan laid on the field motionless.
The quiet and stunned crowd watched as the trainers and paramedics on the side of the field raced to Phan to access the situation. Coaches called 911 and within minutes a rescue unit from nearby McDuff station was in the stadium and was caring to Phan’s needs. After a lengthy delay, Phan’s leg was put in a air cast and transported to nearby St. Vincent Hospital.
“We always come out with a high level of intensity and great motivation,” Small said. “However that was a tough blow to see one of your senior lineman go down like that. Our attitude changed a bit to lets go win it for our brother.”
Lee (4-0, 1-0) is idle this Friday and travels to Atlantic Coast Sept. 29 in another key 2-7A showdown, its first road game of the season. Columbia (3-1, 0-1) must bounce back even quicker as they travel to state power Madison County (4-0) Friday to play at Boot Hill in a non district showdown.
