Shaw's last-second rally comes up short against LaGrange

Up 14-0 less than five minutes into the game, the visiting Grangers from LaGrange looked like they were at Kinnett Stadium to take the home Shaw Raiders to the woodshed in a big Region 1-AAAAA contest on Thursday night.

However, a funny thing happened on the way to the final whistle.

The Raiders calmed down after early miscues and managed to tie the game in the fourth quarter. However, a 57-yard Kimani Barnes run coupled with a huge goal-line stand by the Grangers in the final seconds of the contest gave LaGrange a narrow 35-28 victory.

Shaw had three fumbles in the first quarter and a half, two of them lost to the Grangers. Coach Chuck Stamey attributed it to jitters on the part of his Raiders.

"They know. You can't hide anything," said Stamey. "You can sit here and tell them it's just another football game, but they know. They can do math and they understand wins and losses. They knew how big this game was. They came out tight and weren't having fun. We talked about that at halftime, to come out and have fun for 24 minutes."

The Raider offense began to calm down late in the second quarter and had a sustained drive.

Running back Sydarrian Cobb found the end zone on a one-yard run, and Gio Galvan's extra point cut the Granger lead in half at 14-7 heading into the locker room for halftime.

The second half featured a combined six touchdowns, three for each team.

The most electrifying score was Shaw's first of the third quarter. Nick Beason took a swing pass from B.J. Knight and went 86 yards for the score to knot the game at 14.

Just two minutes later, however, LaGrange would answer as quarterback Laperion Perry found Mike Hardy for a 52-yard touchdown. A Kimani Barnes 30-yard run re-established the Grangers' two touchdown lead at 28-14 early in the fourth quarter.

Beason answered the call again on the next possession for Shaw, running the ball 53 yards deep into Granger territory. Knight finished it off with a pass to Cam Paulding for the score to pull within 28-21.

Eugene Mosely came up with a huge interception for the Raiders late in the quarter, and Knight drove Shaw down to the LaGrange 2 and took it in himself to knot the game up again at 28.

On the ensuing possession, however, Barnes found the end zone for his second score of the night, a 57 yard run as he danced around Shaw defenders on his way to the end zone.

The Raiders drove to the LaGrange 2 in an attempt to tie the game, but Knight was sacked in the field of play with Shaw out of timeouts and unable to stop the clock.

On the night, Beason led the offense with 279 total yards on six catches for 175 yards and eight carries for 104 yards. Knight finished 12 of 22 passing for 287 yards, while Cobb had 14 carries for 66 yards and one 23-yard reception.

"For someone who loves football and has played it all his life, it's fun," said Stamey. "At the end of the day, it's a football game and it didn't bounce our way. But that was on us. We made too many mistakes early and we just can't seem to get away from that.

"I wish they'd had started faster, but they always keep fighting. They're way too competitive to let it go. Unfortunately, we did give up some big plays, and we gotta move it forward to next week and beyond. It's not (lack of) talent."

At the end of the day, however, Stamey was proud of his team for not quitting after twice being down by two scores.

"The kids never quit fighting," said Stamey. "In the past, our kids would have put it in the tank. They didn't against Carver, against Americus-Sumter; they never quit. That's the one thing I love seeing."

After a bye next week, the Raiders close out the season at Harris County on Friday, Nov. 6 in Hamilton.

"We've got a bye week and almost two weeks to prepare for Harris County. People can say what they want about Harris County, but they have talent, and as long as they have that coaching staff up there, it's going to be a big game. At the end of the day, you don't ever know what may happen."Thursday at KinnettLaGrange 14 0 7 14--35

Shaw 0 7 7 14--28First Quarter

L--Andrew Askew 16 pass from Amad Ogletree (Matthew Thomas kick), 9:49

L--Askew 81 pass from Laperion Perry (Thomas kick), 7:15Second QuarterS--Sydarrian Cobb 1 run (Gio Galvan kick), 4:11Third QuarterS--Nick Beason 86 pass from B.J. Knight (Galvan kick), 8:04

L--Mike Hardy 52 pass from Perry (Thomas kick), 6:10Fourth QuarterL--Kimani Barnes 30 run (Thomas kick), 11:25

S--Cameron Paulding 25 pass from Knight (Galvan kick), 7:59

S--Knight 2 run (Galvan kick), 2:38

L--Barnes 57 run (Thomas kick), 0:48

Team records: LaGrange 4-4, 2-2 Region 1-AAAAA. Shaw 4-5, 2-3. Next: LaGrange, home vs. Harris County, Oct. 30, 7:30 p.m.; Shaw, at Harris County, Nov. 6, 7:30 p.m.

This story was originally published October 22, 2015 at 11:19 PM with the headline "Shaw's last-second rally comes up short against LaGrange ."