BRISTOL, Va. – Northwood football coach Billy Wyatt had an important phone call to make late Thursday night.
While his players and fans celebrated around him, Wyatt attempted to contact his wife at a nearby Wal-Mart via an erratic cell-phone
Wyatt had good news to relay, very good news.
In dramatic fashion, the Panthers had just snapped their 16-game losing streak with a 25-18 victory over the John Battle Trojans.
“It’s been a long two years, but this is a good night,” Wyatt said. “Northwood has had a lot of pride in its football program.
“We’ve dropped some games, but we had to start somewhere. Now, we’ve got a win to build win on.”
The last victory for Northwood came against non-district foe Fort Chiswell.
The outlook seemed dim for Northwood after Battle took a 12-0 lead with two minutes and 12 seconds left in the first half.
With six players splitting the carries from the single-wing offense, the Panther rallied. The deciding touchdown came on a 31-yard pass to Dalton Combs with 7:14 remaining.
“This win means everything to us,” said Bodie Keesee, a senior who accounted for 46 yards rushing and two scores. “After we fell behind, we just did what we had to do. Our linemen blocked, we caught some passes and our backs ran hard.”
The Panther defense also hit. The Trojans drove to the Northwood four-yard line with just over two minutes left in the game before stalling on downs.
“We had to buckle down right there,” Keesee said. “We practiced all week for this and did what we had to. I’ll remember this one for a while.”
The memories will be bitter for Battle, which completed a winless season.
“This is a tough loss, but our kids have so much inexperience and they fought down until the end,” first-year John Battle coach Chris Brookshire said.
The stars for John Battle included senior running back Michael Johnson and senior receiver Sage Evans.
The 6-foot, 185-pound Johnson, who paced the Clinch Mountain District in rushing nearly all season, closed his prep career by rushing for 139 yards on 24 carries. Johnson scored one touchdown and passed for another Thursday.
Meanwhile, Evans caught a touchdown pass and broke Battle’s single-season record completions. Amazingly, this was the first season of organized football for Evans.
“The next step for us is the weight room,” Brookshire said. “We’re not very strong right now, but we will be okay if everybody puts forth some time and effort.”
The Battle coach lamented that his team was unable to finish off its drive in the final two minutes. On the fateful fourth down pass, the ball actually bounced off the hand of a Northwood defender and deflected off the arm of Johnson.
“It’s the same old thing,” Brookshire said. “We’ve been close to making plays all year, but we’ve just been hurt by different things.
“I love my kids, and I convinced pretty much all these guys to come out for the team this season. I just wish we could have picked up a win for our seniors.”
The Trojans must replace 13 seniors.
Wyatt was delighted in the determination of his players.
“These guys have really worked hard and maintained a good attitude,” Wyatt said. “We played well at times during the season, then we would shoot ourselves in the foot with mistakes.
“We came away with good news in this one.”
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement