“We had a hard time stopping them when we needed to,” said NHS Head Football Coach Sam Baird. “They have a lot of good athletes and they hit some big plays on us.”
Working their way down to the NHS’ 37, Keenan elected to punt on a fourth-and-five as the Bulldogs were pinned at their own 7-yard line.
While Perry was being known as the 1972 Elton John song, “Rocket Man,” the Bulldog offense could have been known by his 1992 song, “Runaway Train,” as they had a season-high 382 rushing yards, led by next month’s North-South honoree Marcus McMorris (181 yards on 18 carries).
Just one second shy of a 7-minute scoring drive, McMorris ended a 15-play possession with a run along the left side from 9-yards out.
Aaron Ransdell converted his first of five PATs with 3:10 left in the opening quarter.
NHS had 78 yards of first quarter offense while KHS had 48.
After having a couple of near misses on interceptions, Quentin Ray intercepted a pass at his own 7-yard line, returning it to the thirteen with 7:23 left in the first half.
Newberry covered 91-yards on just six plays as McMorris scored his second touchdown of the evening with a 26-yard run along the right side for the 14-0 lead at the 5:19 mark.
After recovering a fumble and a 4-yard gain, Keenan found themselves looking at a third-and-11 from their own 17.
Rowe made a 13-yard pass to Dennis Rowe but Rowe would take the reception 70 more yards for the touchdown. William Moore’s PAT cut the Bulldog lead in half to 14-7 with 3:35 left in the second quarter,
No sooner had the Keenan fans in attendance settled down; the Newberry fans were able to celebrate two minutes later when Kadeem Counts scored from 2-yards out for the 21-7 lead.
For the fourth straight week, Newberry’s opponent would score at least one touchdown in the final three minutes of the first half, including Keenan.
After a 43-yard kick-off return, the Raiders only had 42-yards to cover in the final 64 seconds of play.
Perry threw for his second touchdown of the second quarter with a 12-yard pass to Kyari Williams in the left corner of the end-zone to cut the lead to 21-14 after Moore’s PAT with 20.9 seconds to go in the half.
Newberry had 237 yards of first-half offense while Keenan had 174.
The third quarter blues plagued Newberry once again as they would be outscored 20-0 in these 12 minutes.
Keenan scored on touchdown passes of 21 and 24 yards as well as having a 7-yard rushing touchdown.
Newberry would commit two fumbles and an interception during this quarter which led to 13 Keenan points.
Trailing 34-21 to start the fourth quarter, Newberry faced a fourth-and-one from their 29.
McMorris’ three-yard run gave NHS a fresh set of downs.
Not having any time-outs left to their credit, Newberry was able to capitalize on getting a free talk before a fourth-and-seven when Keenan had to call one to avoid being penalized for having 12 Raiders on the field with 9:37 left in the game.
Sending out the punting team, the Bulldogs’ Chad Davis dove high giving the impression that it was a live football well behind him.
Instead though, there was a direct snap to McMorris, who took the ball along the Newberry sideline 26 yards, down to the 17.
Three plays later, Montagus Caldwell scored on an eight-yard run as Keenan now led 34-28 after Ransdell’s PAT.
Four plays later, Keenan would score their final touchdown of the night with a 63-yard pass from Perry to Rowe as Moore’s PAT ended the scoring for the Raiders with 6:48 left in the game.
With just 78-seconds left in the game, senior Nicholas Gallman scored his first career touchdown from a yard out. This run ended a 70-yard, 12-play drive.
Lining up to attempt an onside kick, the Bulldogs did just that as after a huge huddle of Bulldogs and Raiders was uncovered; Patrick Boyd had recovered the 12-yard kick-off at the Keenan 48.
Four incomplete passes by the Bulldogs turned the ball over to the Raiders with 54.6 seconds left in the game.
“The players have nothing to be disappointed in this game,” said Baird. “Our kids laid it on the line with some athletes that were much bigger than us. We hung in there with them and our kids played as hard as they could play.”
The victory was the first for KHS over NHS since 1979, ending an 11-game losing streak.
The win also ends an eight-game first-round playoff losing streak dating back to 1993.
The 76 combined playoff points was the most points scored in an NHS playoff game since a 62-14 victory over Burke in 1998.
Newberry’s opponents won 10 of 11 coin tosses this year as the Raiders elected to receive the opening kick-off.
Newberry ends its season with a record of six wins and five losses. NHS ends the decade with four region titles, an upper-state championship and a record of 79 wins and 40 losses.
This year’s senior class includes Nicholas Gallman, William Senn, Rufus Swittenburg, Quentin Ray, Marcus McMorris, Lance Brehmer, Aaron Ransdell, Kevis Worthy, Montagus Caldwell, Jeffrey Kiser, Kevin Sims, Austin Cox, Eddie Chavez, Cleve Maybin, Justin Mozee, Brandon Marshall, James Tribble, Kerry Workman, Sean Campos-McJunkins and Joshua Sheen.
“These are all great kids and great athletes,” said Baird. “They’re going to be hard to replace not only for their athletic ability but also for by the kinds of kids they are.”
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