HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: Lebanon Falls To Floyd County In Heartbreaker

Lebanon's Nick Bush tackles Floyd County quarterback Luke Harris during Saturday's game.

By TriCities Staff
Published: November 30, 2008

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BY ANTHONY STEVENS
Sports Correspondent

FLOYD, Va. – Sometimes things just don’t go your way. That happened Saturday, when the run for the Region D, Division 2 champion Lebanon Pioneers ended against Floyd County. While the Pioneers’ season ended, the Buffaloes remained undefeated and advanced to the state championship game with a come-from-behind 14-13 win over Lebanon.

“This is a hard one right here,” said Lebanon coach John Adams. “I thought we had them. We thought we had the better team in the second half but I give them credit. Floyd made the plays when they needed too.”

The Pioneers seemingly had the game in hand and led 13-7. On third-and-10 with just over three minutes remaining, Lebanon shocked the crowd and Floyd County when quarterback Andrew Jessee dropped back to pass and threw a perfect strike to Marcus Smith for a 14 yard gain. Tailback Jerome Cobb ran for another first down as the clock kept ticking.

Then fullback Daniel McClanahan found an opening up the middle and rambled all the way to the Floyd 11. A touchdown would have put the game away. On first down, Lebanon went back to McClanahan for a 1-yard gain. Then on second down, the handoff between Jessee and McClanahan was botched and Floyd linebacker Matt Link scooped up the ball
and returned it to the Floyd 18 with 1:38 left to play in the game.

“We tried to run something safe, something we run all the time,” Adams said. “We just mishandled it. But they shouldn’t be able to go 82 yards in a minute and a half to beat you.”

It was plenty of time for the Buffaloes and senior quarterback Luke Harris. Harris had turned an ankle late in the first half, and missed a series. He played on a gimpy ankle the rest of the game but it didn’t affect his throwing in the final drive.

“We’re always kind of a last-minute team,” said Harris. “We’ve won some games with less than a minute left before. We always have confidence. But to be honest, I still can’t believe it.”

The first play of Floyd County’s game-winning drive was a 15-yard pass interference call against Lebanon. The rest was done by Harris’ arm.

Lebanon trailed 7-0 at halftime, via a 13-yard TD run by Harris. The score could have been much worse if not for outstanding play by the Pioneer defense. Meanwhile, Lebanon’s offense was dreadful the first half. They had 21 yards of total offense, no first downs, and the Buffaloes led time of possession by more than 10 minutes.

But the second half was a different story. The Pioneers tied the game late in the third quarter on a 12-play drive that covered 63 yards. Jessee threw a 6-yard TD pass to tight end Kevin Widener. On the ensuing kickoff, Floyd County fumbled and the ball was recovered by the Pioneers. On Lebanon’s second play after the fumble, quarterback Tarell Lee broke free up the left sideline on a 53-yard TD run to give Lebanon a 13-7 lead. The conversion sailed wide-left, though, and that proved costly.