The Central Holmes football team had a recipe for beating top-ranked Greenville St. Joseph.
With just over eight minutes left to go in Friday night’s Class 3A playoff game, Central Holmes was driving in for a score that would give the Trojans a lead over the defending state champions.
But the Trojans fumbled at the goal line and the Fighting Irish reeled off two straight scores and took a 42-27 win to survive and advance in the playoffs.
With the loss, the Trojans finish the season with a 7-5 record while St. Joseph improves to 11-0 on the season.
Central Holmes coach Jim Crowder was sick when thinking about how close the Trojans were to pulling off a huge upset.
“If you see the score, you think we played them close, but I thought we had them beat,” Crowder said. “We were leading them at halftime and led them late in the third. We were driving down to score and take the lead and fumbled going into the end zone. Every upset is played just like that. They haven’t played a close game all year and then you feel the pressure you haven’t felt before. We had the recipe; it just didn’t work out for us.”
The Trojans got the ball to start the game and promptly drove 50 yards in nine plays as Wykece Johnson scored on a 1-yard run with 7:30 left in the first quarter. Owen O’Bryant’s PAT was good and Central Holmes led 7-0.
After a big kickoff return, the Irish scored on a 26-yard run by Trey Benson with 7:10 left in the first. The try for two failed and Central Holmes led 7-6.
After trading possessions, Central Holmes went on an 11-play, 73-yard drive as C.J. Head scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak with 11:24 left in the first half. O’Bryant’s PAT was good and the Trojans led 14-6.
St. Joe scored right before the half as Norris hit Benson on a 42-yard touchdown pass with 18 seconds left in the half. The try for two failed and Central Holmes led 14-12 at the half.
“I give St. Joe credit; those guys are good,” Crowder said. “They know they are going to break tackles and make big plays. We gave it all we had.We just wanted to get to the fourth quarter with a chance to win and that’s what we did.”
After forcing a Central Holmes punt to start the second half, St. Joe took the lead on a 69-yard run by Dillon Johnson with 7:31 left in the third. The try for two was good and St. Joe led 20-14.
The Trojans then responded with a nine-play, 43-yard drive as Johnson scored on a 7-yard drive with 2:39 left in the third. O’Bryant’s PAT was good and Central Holmes retook the lead at 21-20.
But St. Joe answered right back with an eight-play scoring drive to take a 28-21 lead with 13 seconds left in the third. The Trojans then fought right back as they drove seven plays before a fumble at the 1-yard line ended the drive.
From there, St. Joe scored four plays later on a 51-yard run by Benson with 7:50 left in the fourth and added another touchdown with 3:29 left in the game to lead 42-21.
Central Holmes closed out the game with a seven-play, 51-yard drive as Noah Steen scored on a 15-yard run as time expired for the final margin.
“I felt like we need three to five cheap passes to get just some key first downs,” Crowder said. “We never really got those. We did everything we could do and just couldn’t get it done. After we fumbled, we just weren’t the same.”
Johnson led Central Holmes with 139 yards on 32 carries.
