Gallery by Karen Akers
Lightning filled the sky Friday night, but the real fireworks occurred on the turf at H.B. Thomas Field.
On a night that saw a two-hour lighting delay and big plays were the norm, a defensive stand and a first half field goal became the difference makers for Shady Spring in a 31-28 win over Summers County.
“That was a weird night and I have never felt like this. In my 19 years of coaching I have never had a lightning delay, not once,” Shady Spring head coach Vince Culicerto said. “Our guys kept at it. Even when Summers jumped up on us, we kept coming back. They would answer and we would answer back. Fortunately we got the last one and stopped them on their last chance.”
After combining on a heroic ending for the Tigers last week against Nicholas County, quarterback Brady Green and wide-out Jalon Bailey were at it again Friday.
On the third play from scrimmage, Green fired a perfect strike to Bailey on a slant across the middle which resulted in a 56-yard touchdown pass and a 7-0 lead.
Summers County gunslinger Brandan Isaac answered his counterpart later in the opening quarter with a 35-yard scoring strike to freshman Damien Fullen, trimming the lead to 7-6.
The Bobcats then forced a Shady Spring punt to open the second quarter, but when a Summers County player touched the ball, the Tigers recovered the ball just 22 yards from paydirt.
“I don’t know what happened, but we muffed the punt,” Summers County head coach Josh Evans said. “He is 14 years old and he touched the ball. We battled back and made some good plays, but we can’t seem to finish.”
A five-yard dive from Green made it 14-6 and things got even more bleak for the Bobcats when Shady forced a turnover on downs to end the next drive.
The Tigers drove the ball to the Summers County 12 yard line before a bad snap derailed their run for another touchdown.
Senior kicker Jacob Shamblin calmly drilled a 32-yard field goal with just over three minutes to play in the first half, right before the lightning flashed and the game was halted for two hours.
Following the delay, the final three minutes of the first half turned into a big play bonanza.
“It messes with how how things are going, then you come back out and the stands are empty. It was like a scrimmage game,” Culicerto said. “We tried to keep them focused and they were focused for a good while before it got a little loose. We didn’t come back out with the same intensity.”
A swing pass out to the edge from Isaac found Ryan Oliveros who raced 85 yards for a touchdown.
“They did some stuff that was tough to handle. The quarterback is tough and little No. 5 (Oliveros) is shifty,” Culicerto said. “We would get to where they were and just miss them. That is how talented those two are.”
One play later Shady hit its big play when Gavin Davis took the hand-off from Green and raced 65 yards for a score to put the Tigers back in front, 24-14 with 1:01 to play until halftime.
Undaunted by the Shady answer, Isaac moved his team 75 yards in six plays capped by a 20-yard dart to Ayden Plumley with three ticks left on the clock.
After a short halftime break, Summers opened the second half by running right at the Shady defense. Going 80 yards in 11 plays, the Bobcats took its first lead of the night on an 11-yard run from Drake Cole.
Unfortunately for Summers County, it could not score the remainder of the night.
“We had a better team and we had better athletes on the field, no question about it. Anybody that watched the game knows that, but we are just not there yet,” Evans said. “Hats off to Shady for fighting and grinding and pulling it out. They were bigger up front, but I thought we did pretty well up front. Our quarterback played great and I was proud of him. Overall we had a great effort.”
The eventual game-winning drive for the Tigers came at the end of the third period and crossed over into the early portion of the fourth quarter.
While the drive spanned 12 plays, it was highlighted by two huge pass plays to keep the drive alive.
Facing second-and-28 from his own 12-yard line, Green hit Davis with a well-timed screen pass that covered 42 yards.
Seven plays later needing 12 yards on fourth down, Green dropped a perfect dime to Nathan Easley racing towards the sideline.
Easley reeled in the 21-yard pass and applied the toe-tap to stay in bounds before Davis capped off the drive with an 11-yard run and a 31-28 lead.
“That was a beautiful ball there and the screen pass on second and a long way to go was huge too with Gavin,” Culicerto said. “Brady hung in there and ran for some tough yards.”
After taking its lumps after the delay, the Tigers defense stood tall when it needed to, surviving a 13-play drive by the Bobcats.
A holding penalty and a pair of sacks ended the last gasp for Summers before Green orchestrated a pair of first down runs to seal the win.
“We won, but we are not happy with how we played. Summers County played very well and did a super job which they always do,” Culicerto said. We came out with the win, but we have to do some fixing.”
Shady Spring (2-1) heads to Coal City next week to battle county rival Independence. Summers County (1-2) travels to Wyoming East Friday.
SC: 6 14 8 0 – 28
SS: 7 17 0 7 – 31
First quarter
SS: Jalon Bailey 56 pass from Brady Green (Jacob Shamblin kick)
SC: Damien Fullen 35 pass from Bradan Isaac (kick no good)
Second quarter
SS: Green 5 run (Shamblin kick)
SS: Shamblin 32 FG
SC: Ryan Oliveros 85 pass from Isaac (Isaac rush)
SS: Gavin Davis 65 run (Shamblin kick)
SC: Ayden Plumley 20 pass from Isaac (pass incomplete)
Third quarter
SC: Drake Cole 11 run (Cole rush)
Fourth quarter
SS: Davis 11 run (Shamblin kick)
Stats:
Rushing: (SC) Oliveros 2-(-7), Isaac 9-6, Tyson Adkins 5-14, Cole 12-101-1; (SS) Green 16-62-1, Evan Romage 1-(-4), Davis 22-175-2.
Passing: (SC) Isaac 16-27-311-0-2; (SS) Green 6-11-154-0-1
Receiving: (SC) Oliveros 11-223-1, Fullen 12-56-1, Plumley 1-20-0, Adkins 1-4, Elijah Franklin 1-8; (SS) Bailey 2-61-1, Davis 1-42, Easley 3-51.