JULINGTON CREEK – Bryce Addison nervously paced the sideline back and forth all alone by himself just waiting for the call. Coaches told his teammates to leave him alone and just let him be, after all he didn’t need any more pressure or distractions.
With eight seconds left, Addison calmly lined up for a 26-yard field goal and with a snap from Jay Jay and a solid hold from King Benford, he placed the ball through the uprights putting No. 2 Gamble Rogers into the county championship game for the first time in school history with a 23-22 come from behind win over No. 3 Liberty Pines at Plantation Park.
Throughout the season, Addison was used in extra points attempts, but was never able to attempt a field goal all season long until Wednesday night. The chip shot was the first field goal made for Addison this year, avenging an earlier 29-yard miss earlier in the game on his first attempt of the season.
“Yeah that was his first one, what a clutch kick, unfortunately we were never in position to kick field goals with so many blowout wins throughout the year,” Gamble Rogers coach Matt Potak said.
It didn’t look like his field goal would be needed or attempted as Liberty Pines held a 22-6 lead late in the third quarter and appeared well on its way to its first county championship appearance.
Eric Weatherly gave the Wolves an early 8-0 lead on the opening drive of the game, which stood till midway through the second quarter.
Benford faked a hand off on a reverse play and ran 17 yards up the middle untouched for a score and Aaron Wynn’s two point conversion run was stuffed keeping the score at 8-6 with 3:09 left till half.
Weatherly quickly grabbed the momentum back for Liberty on the first play racing 65 yards for a 14-6 lead with 2:48 left till half.
The ensuing onside kick was recovered by Liberty at midfield, however the Stingray defense forced a quick three and out giving the offense one final chance before half.
A pass interference call on Weatherly put the Stingrays inside the 12 with under 30 seconds remaining.
Addison lined up for his first goal of the season, before Liberty coaches called a timeout to ice him. After the timeout, Addison set up again however this time he sliced it wide right to keep the score 14-6 heading into the half.
Liberty used the pass to set up the offense in the second half as Weatherly connected with Mason Mozzo on a third and 12 play for 36 yards down to the 4 yard line. Weatherly’s 5 yard run two plays later and Mozzo’s two point conversion catch from Weatherly increased the lead to 22-6 with 3:12 left in the third.
Both teams played the odds and avoided kicking it deep to both teams skill guys to avoid giving up the big play, but that meant giving up great field position as well.
After another onside kick, Gamble Rogers took over at midfield and made them pay right away. Benford hit a wide open streaking Wynn down the field for a 50 yard touchdown pass cutting the lead to 22-12 seconds later.
As the game went into the fourth quarter, Liberty and Gamble both knew they were eight minutes from possibly making school history.
Weatherly was hit by Moses King on second down for a huge loss and the defense held on third and 17 and again on fourth and 17 to take over with 5:30 left in the game.
Behind Benford and Wynn, the Stingrays marched down the field chewing up valuable clock along the way though before capping the drive with a Wynn 5 yard touchdown run. Benford faked the hand off to Wynn and found Noah Lawless wide open in the end zone for the two point conversion cutting the lead to 22-20 with 2:46 left in the game.
After recovering the onside kick, all Liberty had to do was pick a couple first down and it was over.
However, Weatherly was hit and tackled from behind and brought down by his collar as the Wolves picked up an addition first down thank to the horse collar play. Weatherly also picked up a cramp on the play and had to sit out most of the rest of the drive.
The Stingray defense forced a quick three and out as the Wolves attempted to throw the ball on third and fourth down coming well short of the first down on fourth down to give the Stingrays the ball back with 1:36 left in the game.
Weatherly was hit for another pass interference call helping the Stingrays quickly move to near midfield. Wynn busted runs of 18, 8, and 12 on consecutive plays which put the Stingrays inside the 5-yard line with under a minute left.
Gamble Rogers head coach Matt Potak made the decision to bring out Addison with eight seconds left to try to win it rather than a costly turnover or a fourth down stop losing it.
“I’m really proud of my team and their effort tonight, we had a lot of guys step up tonight,” Potak said. ” I knew we had to get the ball back and them throwing the ball late in the game was a big surprise to us.”
Now the Stingrays turn their attention to playing in the programs biggest game.
Gamble Rogers (10-1) will play defending county champion No. 4 seed Swiss Point (9-2), a 38-32 winner over No. 1 Fruit Cove in the second semifinal, in the championship Nov. 15 at 6 p.m. at Plantation Park.
