MAYFLOWER — Mayflower running back Daniel Gieber plowed into the line and put his head down hunting for a tying touchdown midway through the second quarter against Barton.
Gieber‘s progress was stopped at the 5, but the whistle didn’t blow and the ball bounced out of the pile.
Barton’s Kedrick Jackson scooped it up and raced 95 yards for one of his five touchdowns, turning the game the Bears’ way in a 55-39 victory in the 6-3A Conference at Patrick Stadium.
Mayflower (3-4, 2-2) expected the whistle to be blown before the ball got loose.
“We all thought it was dead,” Mayflower Coach Josh Davis said, “but the ref didn’t.”
Matters got worse when quarterback Adam Dycus slung an errant pass to wide receiver Josh Woodham on fourth down. Barton needed three plays to cover 43 yards, taking a 34-14 lead on Cameron Anderson’s 14-yard touchdown run with 5:32 left until halftime.
Barton trailed 14-6 when Dycus found Woodham for a 15-yard touchdown pass with 49 seconds to go in the first quarter.
Barton (7-0, 4-0) took a 21-14 lead when running back Jackson raced 46 yards on a toss sweep for a touchdown at 7:36 in the second quarter.
And Jackson’s return struck the biggest blow to make it 28-14 on Mayflower’s ensuing drive, which had covered 65 yards in seven plays before Gieber’s fumble.
“I was surprised we got that call on the road, to be honest,” Barton Coach Van Paschal said. “But we’ll take it.”
The teams combined for 94 points, 945 yards and 11 penalties for 110 yards.
Barton rushed 52 times in its triple-option attack for 417 yards.
Anderson rushed for a game-high 186 yards and 2 touchdowns on 16 carries. Jackson had 147 yards and touchdown runs of 5, 46, 6 and 23 yards on 17 carries, to go with his fumble return.
Mayflower gained 589 yards, with Dycus throwing for 503 yards and 4 touchdowns on 32 of 45 passing, but 2 interceptions were turned into touchdown drives by Barton.
2-3A
EPISCOPAL COLLEGIATE 35, BALD KNOB 31
BALD KNOB - Episcopal Collegiate rallied from 10 points down with four minutes left to pull out a 2-3A Conference victory.
The fourth-quarter comeback included a 98-yard scoring pass from William Pollock to Allie Freeman, one of two touchdowns Freeman scored for the Wildcats (4-3, 3-1). A Nick Henry touchdown capped the rally. Henry also returned an interception for another score and kicked three extra points.
Cordel Crisp was 29 of 51 for 325 yards and 3 touchdowns for Bald Knob (2-5, 1-3). Trever Hydron had 10 catches for 102 yards and 2 scores while Nate Johnston caught 10 passes for 162 yards and 1 touchdown for the Bulldogs.
ROSE BUD 55, PERRYVILLE 25
ROSE BUD - Cole Robertson and Christian Reynolds combined for 420 rushing yards and 6 touchdowns to lead Rose Bud (3-3, 1-3) to its first 2-3A Conference victory, beating Perryville (1-6, 0-4). Robertson ran for 187 yards on 16 carries and scored 5 touchdowns, while Reynolds had 233 yards on 19 carries and scored a touchdown. He also passed for two touchdowns to Spencer Starkey.
4-3A
MANSFIELD 44, ATKINS 22
MANSFIELD - Christian Saynaphay passed for a touchdown and Jesse Cotner ran for another as Mansfield knocked off Atkins. Saynaphay threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Michael Robles. Cotner’s touchdown run covered 65 yards.
CHARLESTON 38, LAMAR 25
CHARLESTON - Ty Storey passed for 545 yards and 6 touchdowns to lead Charleston (5-2, 4-1 4-3A) to a victory Lamar (5-2, 4-1). Storey, who entered the game with 2.229 yards passing and 25 touchdowns this season, completed 30 of 44 passes. He threw touchdown passes of 80 and 60 yards to Chance Shelby, 38 and 10 yards to Taylor King, 16 to Josh Moore and 59 to Taylor Loveday. Shelby finished with 11 catches for 298 yards and 2 touchdowns. Jordan Haas scored rushing touchdowns of 9 and 1 yard, and threw 9 yards to Jalen Chanault for a score for Lamar.
5-3A
CENTERPOINT 14, BENTON HARMONY GROVE 6
BENTON - Chad Arnold ran for two touchdowns to pace Centerpoint (2-5, 2-2 Conference 5-3A) to a victory over Benton Harmony Grove (2-5, 2-3).
Tyler Williams had Benton Harmony Grove’s lone score on a pass from Zane Anderson.
6-3A
FORDYCE 40, SMACKOVER 22
FORDYCE - Cole Johnson threw three touchdown passes and Larry Buckley rushed for two scores to lead Fordyce in a 6-3A Conference game. Two of Johnson’s scoring throws came in the first quarter en route to the Redbugs (6-1, 3-1) builinga 13-7 lead. Rashad Allen caught both, the first for 37 yards with 9:22 left, and the second for 49 yards with 7:03 left. After Smackover (5-2, 2-2) scored 10 unanswered points, Johnson struck again. He linked up with Charles York for a 66-yard touchdown in the second quarter to make it a 20-10 halftime lead. Fordyce took to the ground in the second half, and Buckley added touchdown runs of 5 yards third quarter and 1-yard in the fourth quarter. Austin Perry added another fourth-quarter touchdown for the Redbugs, scoring from 1-yard out.
Sports, Pages 29 on 10/13/2012