ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, October 5, 1996 TAG: 9610070151
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL RAY STAFF WRITER
Blowing a 12-0 halftime lead will leave a bad taste in a coach's mouth. But having the last second tick off the clock with your team down by two points on the opponent's 1-yard line is enough to gag the most steel-gutted coach.
That's just the Friday night meal served William Byrd's Jeff Highfill in his Terriers' 14-12 Blue Ridge District loss to Northside.
With 2:49 left to play in the game, the Terriers' defense took over on downs at their own 25-yard line. After being stifled in the second half, the William Byrd offense, behind 171-yard rusher Frank English drove the length of the field to give place-kicker Chris Dowdy a chance to win the game. But it was not to be.
With the clock winding down, English, the Terriers' quarterback took a knee rather than spike the ball in an attempt to stop the clock. To the utter shock of the home crowd, the last second disappeared into the chilly night, letting Northside escape.
"I take the blame for putting [English] in that situation," Highfill said. "We were trying to get the ball off the hash mark and since we have a soccer-style kicker. That was not the turning point of the game, but that is the play that people will remember."
After a scoreless first quarter, the Terriers (2-3 overall, 0-2 Blue Ridge) drew first blood, capitalizing on one of three Viking first-half turnovers. Seven seconds into the second quarter, freshman tailback O.J. Thomason broke through the Viking defense for a 17-yard touchdown and a 6-0 William Byrd lead. The Terriers made it 12-0 six minutes later on a 98-yard explosion by English.
Following a 32-yard Northside punt to the Byrd 2, the senior quarterback took off around the right side of his line for the touchdown.
"At halftime, I told my kids that everything that could go wrong in the first half did," Northside coach Jim Hickam said. "With young kids you will make mistakes. But we had confidence that we could come back and we did."
In fact, the Vikings' comeback was orchestrated without starting quarterback Xavier Lee, who went down with 3:52 left in the third quarter. The junior, who also serves as Northside's kickoff man, was injured after kicking to the Terriers. The kickoff came following a 2-yard Xavier Cargile touchdown, which pulled the Vikes within 12-7.
With Lee sidelined, sophomore Brad McCrady guided Northside 78 yards on its next possession to take the lead on a 4-yard run by John Doss, who finished with 131 yards rushing.
"John [Doss] has been excellent when we need him all season," Hickam said. "He came back out in the second half with a lot of confidence."
The victory marked the second week in a row the Vikings (3-2, 2-0) had to regroup at halftime in order to eke out a victory. Last week against Christiansburg, the team won another nailbiter, holding off a potential game-winning drive late in the second half.
Hickam said the key to William Byrd's near-comeback was the play of English.
"He is just a great quarterback," Hickam said. "We knew that one thing we had to do to be successful was stop him. One thing about William Byrd is that Coach Highfill always does a lot with what he has."
Despite the dramatic ending, Highfill said the turning point of the game actually was early in the third quarter. On their first possession of the second half, the Terriers were driving deep inside Viking territory. But three penalties later, they found themselves looking at a second-and-33 before English was intercepted by Scott Mashburn.
"We said at halftime that we needed to come out strong in the half and drive on them," Highfill said. "But we got three penalties in a row and that took care of our good field position. You can't do those things a expect to beat a team like Northside."
see microfilm for box score
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines KEYWORDS: FOOTBALLby CNB