North Laurel Scores on Final Play to Defeat Montgomery County in 5A Playoffs
In one of the few competitive games across the state on Friday night, the North Laurel Jaguars (5-6) went on the road and picked up a 20-17 overtime win over the Montgomery County Indians (5-5) in the first round of the high school football class 5A playoffs.
After holding the Indians to a field goal on their opening possession of overtime thanks to a Brody Pruitt sack on third down, Jude McWhorter connected with Carter Kelley on third-and-goal to give the Jaguars a walk-off victory.
Despite finishing fourth in their district, the Jaguars are now one win away from their second straight quarterfinal appearance. They beat the Indians 54-0 in the first round of last year’s state playoffs in London.
First Quarter
Both teams had long drives capped off by touchdowns in a fast opening quarter of action. The Indians got the ball first and converted a crucial fourth down in the red zone when Jacob Gumm rolled to his left and found Jaimen Caba over the middle. Elijah Ebanks punched it in from close distance two plays later.
The Jaguars answered with an all-rushing drive punctuated by a three-yard Bryson Nantz touchdown run.
Second Quarter
The Indians put together another long drive but came up empty on a 37-yard field goal attempt where the kick timing was thrown off by a low snap.
The Jaguars took to the air for the first time and came up aces with a deep pass from McWhorter to Kelley on a one-man go-route against single coverage. Kelley high-pointed the ball, broke a tackle, and ran the final 34 yards on the touchdown that covered 66 yards.
Montgomery County evened things up just before the end of the half. Gumm converted a third-down pass to Caba to move the ball to the Jaguar five-yard line. With no timeouts remaining, Gumm found Gabe Tipton in the left edge of the end zone to knot the score up at 14 with seven seconds left.
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Third Quarter
The Jaguars rolled the dice at midfield on fourth-and-five and converted on a pass from McWhorter to Kelley to move the chains. They ripped off a long run on the following play but the Indians stripped the ball and recovered on their own 29-yard line.
Montgomery County drove 69 yards to the North Laurel two-yard line. They elected to go for it on fourth down but the Jaguar defense came up big with a stop on the inch line that was too close to call.
Fourth Quarter
Montgomery County stopped North Laurel on fourth down on the Jaguar 40-yard line to get great field position, with Edgar Diaz and a host of other linemen tacking the ballcarrier behind the line of scrimmage. The Indians were not able to cash in points though, with a long field goal coming up just short.
The teams traded turnovers, with Duran Owens intercepting a deep pass near midfield to give Montgomery County another crack at it but the Jaguars came up with an interception that appeared to have hit the ground to thwart the Indians again in the red zone.
The Jaguars drove 63 yards to the Indian 32-yard line with 16 seconds left and elected to try a 49-yard field goal. It came up just short, setting the stage for overtime where McWhorter would find Kelly for the walk-off win.
Next up:
North Laurel travels to Southwestern next Friday in round two of the 5A state playoffs.
Montgomery County returns their quarterback and most of their key offensive skill players from a team that won the district for the first time in 26 years.
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