Photo by: Roger Lee/Journal Scene

Photo by: Roger Lee/Journal Scene

Swamp Foxes advance to state semi-finals

Stratford was a first down away from eliminating the Swamp Foxes from the Division II-AAAA state football playoffs, but the Ashley Ridge defense forced the Knights to punt and give the Foxes one final chance.

Trailing by 4 points, Ashley Ridge began its final offensive possession at its own 36-yard line with little time to spare. However, the Foxes covered that ground in less than 10 plays and scored with 14 seconds remaining to claim a 24-21 victory and avenge a Week 3 loss to the Knights.

Senior receiver Seamus McKinney made receptions of 10 and 25 yards and threw a pass to Donavan Thompson for a 24-yard gain on the drive. His second reception of the possession gave Ashley Ridge a first and goal at the 5 with 38 seconds remaining.

The Foxes tried to run the ball into the end zone from there, but Stratford’s Drew Latour stopped the runner for no gain. Ashley Ridge spiked the ball to kill the clock and the snap for the next play sailed over the head of quarterback Jacob Thompson. But the QB recovered the ball, scrambled and completed a pass to tight end Fred Weeks, who then dashed some six yards into the end zone for the game-winning score.

“The play was busted but I knew they wanted to get me the ball with a screen pass so I just waited for it,” Weeks said. “This feels great.”

The Swamp Foxes (10-3) advance to face Greenwood on the road Nov. 25 in the semi-finals while the season is over for the Knights (9-4).

“We shot ourselves in the foot so much tonight so we are very fortunate to get out of here with the win,” Ashley Ridge coach Kenny Walker said. “But our kids did what they had to do to get the victory so I’m proud of them. We had a couple of good special teams plays and made some defensive stops when we needed to. Stratford is a solid team, but they made some costly mistakes tonight and we are glad to be moving on.”

Both teams hurt themselves with penalties and special-teams miscues. However, they also both moved the ball well, but not always when they needed to most.

Stratford drove 66 yards to score on its first possession of the game. All but 19 of the yards came on the ground and fullback Noah Shuler capped the drive with a 5-yard run into the end zone.

Late in the second quarter, the Stratford punter fumbled a snap and Tray Cutler rushed in to make sure the kicker couldn’t get off the punt. The Foxes took over in Knights’ territory and needed only two plays to score.

Thompson connected with McKinney on a 41-yard pass play and then Vernon Moree ran into the end zone from 4 yards out. Dalton Robinson’s extra-point kick gave Ashley Ridge a 7-6 lead.

The Knights responded well and would have likely taken the lead into the half had Dominique Francis not blocked a 23-yard Stratford field goal attempt on the final play of the second quarter.

Early in the second half, Stratford was able to take advantage of an Ashley Ridge special teams’ mistake. On a punt, an Ashley Ridge return man decided to let the kick go, but had trouble getting out of the way. The officials ruled the ball hit him and was then recovered by Stratford, thus setting the Knights up with possession at the AR 15.

With the help of a roughing the passer penalty, the Knights scored five plays later on a Devin Washington TD run. Stratford then used a flea-flicker pass to add a pair of conversion points for a 14-7 lead.

The Foxes answered with an 80-yard drive capped by a 68-yard TD run by Romelo Doctor with 4:36 remaining in the third period.

The Knights answered that with a 72-yard scoring drive capped by Shuler’s second TD run of the night. The drive featured a 49-yard pass to Chris White.

However, Ashley Ridge again rallied, scoring with a 22-yard field goal by Dalton Robinson after a drive stalled at the Knights’ 5 and with Weeks’ game-winning TD catch.

Thompson completed 10 of 15 pass attempts for 155 yards. McKinney had 100 receiving yards on five receptions. Doctor rushed for 102 yards and a TD.

For Stratford, Park completed 10 of 16 pass attempts for 154 yards and rushed for 54 yards. Shuler rushed for 96 yards and Devin Washington rushed for 66 yards.

Ashley Ridge        0    7    7    10 – 24

Stratford             6    0    15    0  –21

S – Noah Shuler 5 run (kick failed)

A – Vernon Moree 4 run (Dalton Robinson kick)

S – Devin Washington 3 run (Steven Archie pass from Jacob Park)

A – Romelo Doctor 68 run (Robinson kick)

S – Shuler 10 run (Cole Rymer kick)

A – Robinson 22 field goal

A – Fred Weeks 5 pass from Jacob Thompson (Robinson kick)

Contact Roger Lee @ 873-9424 ext. 213 or rlee@journalscene.com