Late score lifts Redmen past Dragons

Photo by Josh Wilson

Photo by Josh Wilson

Photo by Josh Wilson

PROCTORVILLE — Sometimes Lady Luck smiles on you, and sometimes she doesn’t.

On Friday night, it was the Rock Hill Redmen who were all smiles after a thrilling come-from-behind win in the final minutes of the game as they edged the Fairland Dragons 33-32 in an Ohio Valley Conference game.

The never-say-die Redmen trailed 25-14 going into the fourth quarter only to score to get within 25-21.

Fairland (1-3, 0-1) answered with a scoring drive to lead 32-21 with just 4:26 left, but Rock Hill (3-1, 1-0) scored with 2:48 left, recovered the onside kickoff and scored the go ahead touchdown with 1:05 to play.

The Dragons came back and reached the Rock Hill 13-yard line, but a 30-yard field goal attempt went just wide left and the Redmen escaped with the thrilling win.

For Fairland coach Mike Jackson, there were three key plays in the game that could have meant victory if they went the other way.

“There’s three things that went against us. If we get the onside (kickoff), the bobbled pass down there and the defender did a good job, and (the field goal) was off just a little bit. That’s why it’s a game of inches,” Jackson said.

Rock Hill used a 23-yard run by Brady Murrell to reach the Fairland 10-yard line and Dallin Cox hit Aaron Workman with a 6-yard scoring pass on a fourth down play for the touchdown.

Cameron Howard kicked the important conversion and the Redmen trailed 25-21 with 11:08 to play.

Fairland answered with a 64-yard, 10-play drive capped by Xander Collins’ 9-yard scoring run with 4:26 left. J.C. Auxier kicked the conversion and the lead was 32-21.

Rock Hill came right back to go 64 yards in just 5 plays highlighted by a 46-yard pass from Cox to a wide-open Kelan Davidson to the Fairyland 16.

Cox threw 12 yards to Murrell and then Davidson ran the final 4 yards for the score with 1:05 to play as the Redmen took their first lead at 33-32.

Fairland got the ball at its own 39 and Burcham hit Kinyon Smith with an 18-yard pass and then ran for 5 yards to the 38. On the next play, Burcham threw a deep pass to Conner Black who turned to make the catch but Cox managed to just get a hand in and disrupt the pass as it went incomplete.

An 11-yard pass to Smith and a 12-yard completion to Black got the ball to the 15. Collins ran 2 yards to get the ball in the middle of the field and Fairland called a timeout.

Auxier attempted a 30-yard field goal that just missed to the left of the goalpost.

“It gave us plenty of time for a chance to win, but it just didn’t go our way at the end,” said Jackson.

“We gave up too much in the second half. You can’t do that, but give them credit. They took it to us in the second half but we still had a chance to win,”

The Dragons took a 7-0 lead as Collins ran 9 yards with 9:24 on the first quarter clock.

The Redmen tied the game on a 21-yard run by Cox with 10:05 left in the half and the game was tied at 7-all.

It only took 19 seconds for the Dragons to regain the lead and Collins returned the kickoff 81 yards for a touchdown and it was 13-7.

Fairland forced a punt and the Dragons got the ball at their own 22. A holding penalty backed the ball up 10 yards and a short pass for Christian Bompus put the ball at the 18.

On the next play, Burcham hit Black who got behind the defensive back and raced into the end zone for an 82-yard scoring play and it was 19-7 with 6:21 left in the half.

The second half kickoff went out of bounds near midfield and the penalty on the play gave Rock Hill the ball at the Fairland 46 to start the second half.

A 30-yard pass from Cox to Davidson got the ball to the 12-yard line and 4 plays later Cox kept the ball and went 5 yards for the touchdown. Howard’s kick cut the deficit to 19-14 at the 9:46 mark.

The Dragons came back with a 78-yard drive in 11 plays — all on the ground — with David Murray scoring from 7 yards out and the lead was 25-14 with 2:59 left in the third quarter.

Rock Hill had 327 total yards with 129 coming on the ground led by Murrell with 77 yards on 15 carries. Cox was 11-of-15 for 198 yards and a touchdown and an interception. McClelland had 63 yards on 3 receptions.

The Dragons racked up 368 total yards with 216 on the ground. Burcham led a balanced running game with 60 yards on 11 carries, Collins 54 on 8 tries, and both Murray and Bompus had 51 yards rushing.

Burcham was 7-of-12 passing with a touchdown and an interception with Black making 3 catches for 96 yards and a score.

Next Friday, Rock Hill visits South Point and Fairland entertains Gallipolis.

Rock Hill 0 7 7 19 = 33

Fairland 7 12 6 7 = 32

First Quarter

Fa — Xander Collins 9 run (J.C. Auxier kick) 9:24

Second Quarter

RH — Dallin Cox 21 run (Cameron Howard kick) 10:05

Fa — Xander Collins 81 kickoff return (kick failed) 9:46

Fa — Conner Black 82 pass from Owen Burcham (pass failed) 6:21

Third Quarter

RH — Dallin Cox 5 run (Cameron Howard kick) 9:46

Fa — Davin Murray 7 run (pass failed) 2:59

Fourth Quarter

RH — Aaron Workman 6 pass from Dallin Cox (Cameron Howard kick) 11:08

Fa — Xander Collins 16 run (J.C. Auxier kick) 4:26

RH — Kelan Davidson 4 run (run failed) 2:48

RH — Brady Murrell 4 run (run failed) 1:05

———

RH Fa

First downs 14 18

Rushes-yards 35-129 37-216

Passing yards 198 152

Total yards 327 368

Cmp-Att-Int 11-15-1 7-12-1

Fumbles-lost 2-1 0-0

Penalties-yards 6-55 6-33

Punts-average 2-36.0 1-37.0

———

Individual Leaders

RUSHING–Rock Hill: Brady Murrell 15-77 TD, Kelan Davidson 11-37 TD, Dallin Cox 8-10 2-TD, Yaden Bailey 1-5; Fairland: Owen Burcham 11-60, Davin Murray 10-51 TD, Xander Collins 8-54 TD, Christian Bompus 8-51.

PASSING–Rock Hill: Dallin Cox 11-15-1 198 TD; Fairland: Owen Burcham 7-12-1 152 TD.

RECEIVING–Rock Hill: Aaron Workman 2-27 TD, Braylon McClelland 3-63, Brady Murrell 2-22, Cash Lyons 2-10, Kelan Davidson 2-76; Fairland: Conner Black  3-96 TD, Kinyon Smith 2-29, Christian Bompus 2-15.

MISSED FIELD GOALS–J.C. Auxier 30 (WL).