Martinsburg did indeed bring along some more magic for its latest showdown in Charleston, but South Charleston luckily saved a little for itself at the end of the game.
Martinsburg did indeed bring along some more magic for its latest showdown in Charleston, but South Charleston luckily saved a little for itself at the end of the game.
Dakota Sanders booted a tie-breaking 19-yard field goal with 4:55 left to halt a wave of Martinsburg momentum Friday night, and SC tacked on a late score for a 38-28 victory in the Class AAA quarterfinals. A paid crowd of 1,923 was on hand at Laidley Field.
Tyler Harris threw for three touchdowns and Raymond Coleman ran for 195 yards and two scores as SC won its eighth straight despite nearly blowing a 28-point lead.
"We were shaken with our confidence,'' said SC coach John Messinger. "But we've told them all year long that we've been in a few tight spots - not many of them, but a few tight spots - and the thing they have to do is they have to believe in what we're putting out there for them offensively and defensively, they have to believe in each other and they have to believe they have the ability to get it done.''
The No. 2 seed Black Eagles (11-1) moved into next week's semifinals, also at Laidley Field, against the winner of today's George Washington at Bridgeport game. The time and date will be decided Sunday.
Martinsburg (9-3), the No. 7 seed, appeared hopelessly out of the game, trailing 28-0 at halftime. SC had racked up exactly 400 yards at that stage and showed no signs of slowing down.
Until halftime came. Then nothing seemed to go right for the defending state champion.
Martinsburg scored TDs on four straight possessions after its first drive was thwarted by a fumbled snap on fourth-and-1 at the SC 35. Kam Puller threw TD passes of 15 yards to David Arndt and 47 yards to David Hammond. Brandon Bishop ran 3 yards for a score and Puller had a 10-yard scoring burst in which he bounced off a high tackle by Blake Brooks and scooted into the end zone.
That came with 8:39 left in the game and drew the Bulldogs even at 28. At that point, the only first down by SC came on a 20-yard run by Harris in which he lost a fumble.
Needless to say, visions of victory were no longer dancing in the heads of SC's players. Fatigue was setting in and Martinsburg's players looked a step faster.
"We were on Easy Street,'' Harris said. "But those guys had a lot of heart coming back. They were down 28 points, and scored almost 28 points in the third quarter. Those guys were pretty good.''
After Puller's tying TD, SC quickly faced second-and-11 from its own 29. A short pass into the right flat to Tevin Spurlock gained 21 yards and Black Eagles' players started breathing a little bit easier.
Martinsburg did indeed bring along some more magic for its latest showdown in Charleston, but South Charleston luckily saved a little for itself at the end of the game.
Dakota Sanders booted a tie-breaking 19-yard field goal with 4:55 left to halt a wave of Martinsburg momentum Friday night, and SC tacked on a late score for a 38-28 victory in the Class AAA quarterfinals. A paid crowd of 1,923 was on hand at Laidley Field.
Tyler Harris threw for three touchdowns and Raymond Coleman ran for 195 yards and two scores as SC won its eighth straight despite nearly blowing a 28-point lead.
"We were shaken with our confidence,'' said SC coach John Messinger. "But we've told them all year long that we've been in a few tight spots - not many of them, but a few tight spots - and the thing they have to do is they have to believe in what we're putting out there for them offensively and defensively, they have to believe in each other and they have to believe they have the ability to get it done.''
The No. 2 seed Black Eagles (11-1) moved into next week's semifinals, also at Laidley Field, against the winner of today's George Washington at Bridgeport game. The time and date will be decided Sunday.
Martinsburg (9-3), the No. 7 seed, appeared hopelessly out of the game, trailing 28-0 at halftime. SC had racked up exactly 400 yards at that stage and showed no signs of slowing down.
Until halftime came. Then nothing seemed to go right for the defending state champion.
Martinsburg scored TDs on four straight possessions after its first drive was thwarted by a fumbled snap on fourth-and-1 at the SC 35. Kam Puller threw TD passes of 15 yards to David Arndt and 47 yards to David Hammond. Brandon Bishop ran 3 yards for a score and Puller had a 10-yard scoring burst in which he bounced off a high tackle by Blake Brooks and scooted into the end zone.
That came with 8:39 left in the game and drew the Bulldogs even at 28. At that point, the only first down by SC came on a 20-yard run by Harris in which he lost a fumble.
Needless to say, visions of victory were no longer dancing in the heads of SC's players. Fatigue was setting in and Martinsburg's players looked a step faster.
"We were on Easy Street,'' Harris said. "But those guys had a lot of heart coming back. They were down 28 points, and scored almost 28 points in the third quarter. Those guys were pretty good.''
After Puller's tying TD, SC quickly faced second-and-11 from its own 29. A short pass into the right flat to Tevin Spurlock gained 21 yards and Black Eagles' players started breathing a little bit easier.
On second down, Harris lofted a deep pass down the middle and Eddie Gordon beat double coverage for a 37-yard pickup to the Martinsburg 11. That set up Sanders' field goal that handed the lead back to SC.
"These guys worked so hard all week long,'' Gordon said. "I just didn't want to give up. I wasn't ready to go home. I'm a senior. I wasn't ready for it to end. I couldn't let these guys down. When an opportunity came, I felt I had to fill it.''
Following the field goal, Martinsburg began a drive at its own 32, but Puller overthrew Kendall Redman on third-and-8 and Puller then shanked a 14-yard punt out of bounds near midfield.
Going exclusively on the ground, SC pounded out 49 yards in seven carries, with Coleman taking it in from the 2 with 1:28 left. Coleman finished with 23 carries.
"We figured if we stopped them one more time, we could go down the field and score just like we did our last four drives we had,'' Puller said. "The defense just needed to suck it up and get off the field and that would happen. But the defense played great the whole game. Momentum was on our side, but again they were kind of taking it away from us inch by inch.''
The Bulldogs had enjoyed a banner year so far in athletics. Both their boys basketball and baseball teams came to Charleston in the 2009 calendar year and knocked off the state's top-ranked teams in the finals of the state tournaments. They nearly added the state's No. 2 team in the football playoffs Friday night.
"It's not that we played a bad football game,'' Messinger said. "We played three great quarters of football. Martinsburg just played one heck of a third quarter - and they should. Nobody in this thing at this point is a bad football team. I've been telling everybody just how good Martinsburg is, and they're that good, obviously.''
Harris completed 13-of-22 passes for 256 yards and ran 17 times for 124 yards. Gordon had four catches for 117 yards and one TD, and Spurlock caught four balls for 89 yards and a score. Moe Makhene had the other TD reception.
SC beat Martinsburg in last year's AAA quarterfinals 28-21, also held at Laidley Field.
Reach Rick Ryan at 304-348-5175 or rickr...@wvgazette.com.
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