CAVE CITY — Cave City rallied from a 13-point deficit in the third quarter to score the next 29 points for a 35-20 victory in 4A-3 Conference play on Friday.
Cave City (4-4, 2-3) claimed the Sharp County Showdown Trophy after trailing 20-6 in the third quarter.
Cave City’s Bryce Walling set up his own 1-yard touchdown run with a 37-yard run. Eli Taylor ran in the two-point conversion to cut Highland’s lead to 20-14.
After stopping Highland on downs, Cave City quarterback Jacob Moore threw an 87-yard scoring pass to Jacob Jones for to tie the game at 20-20. Millie Beller added the extra point to give the Cavemen a 21-20 lead on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Jones caught a 46-yard touchdown pass from Jacob and Beller’s extra point made it 28-20 early in the fourth quarter.
Cave City stopped Highland again forcing the ball over on downs. Maddox Moreland scored on an 8-yard run with 2:33 remaining to help set the final margin.
“We saw some things we could do with our running game there at the end of the first half,” Cave City Coach Danny Brustrom said. “We worked in the second half to set up our play-action. I am proud of our kids. We wanted a chance to go to the playoffs with these kids and we are still alive.” Highland (2-6, 0-5) got a 63-yard touchdown pass from Wyatt Goodman to Linden Whitlow for a 6-0 lead with 3:57 left in the first quarter.
Cave City scored on a 9-yard touchdown pass from Jacob to Taylor to tie the game at 6-6 with 1:19 to go before halftime.
An onside kick recovery at the Cave City 48 gave Highland a short field. A 5-yard touchdown pass with 4.7 seconds remaining in the first half from Goodman to Whitlow gave Highland a 12-6 halftime lead.
Highland scored on a 14-play drive to open the second half when Goodman kept for a 9-yard touchdown run.
He passed to Whitlow for the two-point conversion to lead 20-6 with 5:40 to go in the third quarter.