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Sports

UPDATE: Tucker Wins Thriller 17-16 over Northside-Warner Robins

Justin Rivers' fumble recovery, 99-yd TD propel Tigers to Championship.

Updated at 10:55 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 3

By the time Tucker’s Justin Rivers was coherent enough to offer any words about his game-changing play, all of the Northside fans had finished filing out; and the many Tucker fans, friends, and family that remained were congregated around the south end zone of McConnell-Talbert Stadium in Warner Robins. All eyes were on Rivers every time he spoke, and he finally was able to recount his fumble recovery and 99-yard touchdown return.

“I just got it and went to the end zone. I knew no one was going to catch me,” said Rivers. To be fair, Rivers needed a little help from the speedy Jordan Landry to fend off his pursuers; but none caught him, and in the time it took Justin Rivers to complete a 100-yard dash, the landscape of the 2011 GHSA playoffs changed completely, sending No. 1 Tucker (14-0) through to the State Championship with a 17-16 win over No. 2 Northside (13-1).

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After a 45-yard strike from Northside QB Jack Montgomery to WR A’Donis Hampton, the Eagles stood just two yards away from opening up a two-touchdown lead with 4:45 to play. Northside ran the ball to the right and looked to be putting the finishing touches on another trip to the finals by punching the ball in right in front of the home crowd and band. A moment of confusion and scramble saw Rivers come streaking out from the goal-line pile and up the sideline, two Northside players hot in pursuit. No whistles sounded, no flags flew, and realization set in over the crowd that the all-but-over game was suddenly not over at all. Landry chased down Rivers’ would-be tacklers and interfered enough (clearly making sure to commit no penalties) to allow Rivers to cruise in with the game-tying score. Steven Duffy added the point that won the game.

It was Rivers’ second fumble recovery of the game, having also picked up a fumbled punt return in the second quarter to help preserve Tucker’s 10-7 halftime lead.

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Northside had one last chance to earn the win when the Tucker offense could not convert a first down to run out the clock and had to punt, leaving Northside’s offense 53 seconds and no timeouts to cover 80 yards. The Eagles immediately took to the air. After a dropped pass, Montgomery found Keshun Hill for 25 yards to the 45, but his next pass found Tucker’s Juwaan Williams, who picked up his second interception in as many weeks from the defensive back position that has been added to his quarterbacking duties.

Duffy continued to consistently put points on the board for the Tigers as he has done all season, accounting for Tucker’s first points with a 21-yard first-quarter field goal and converting both points after touchdown.

Northside’s Marte Polk led all offensive performers with 111 rushing yards and a touchdown. The bulk of this yardage came all at once on the Eagles’ second possession of the game, as Tucker fell behind early for just the second time in 2011 but also the second time in two weeks.

Following consecutive three-and-outs by each offense, Tucker’s Jacob Sealand dropped a punt inside the Eagle 10. On the next play from scrimmage, Polk found a hole in the first level and weaved through the rest of the Tigers’ defense for a 93-yard score. Dillon Mixon added the point after for a 7-0 Northside lead with 8:26 in the first quarter.

The teams swapped three-and-outs again (with Joe Rush featuring prominently in in Northside’s failure to gain a first down) before Landry started to find some breathing room. With 3:42 left in the first quarter, DB Taz Thomas made a lunging tackle to prevent Landry from pulling the Tigers even, but not before Landry gained 27 yards and breathed life into the Tiger offense.

A Williams 8-yard completion to Josh Dawson, a Williams 14-yard keeper, and a Dallas Rivers 13-yard run accounted for three straight first downs to move the Tigers from midfield to the Eagle 5. Tucker was unable to convert the first-and-goal, but Duffy put up the chip shot field goal to cut the Northside lead to 7-3 with 23 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

Northside nearly scored again on the ensuing kickoff, but Landry made a touchdown-saving tackle on Hill’s 31-yard return. The Tigers forced a three-and-out – due in part to Solomon Jackson breaking through the line to drop RB Curtis Martin for a loss on second down – and received the ball on their own 12-yard line with 10:47 in the second quarter. A 38-yard Williams run on third down provided the catalyst for a 6-play, 3:04 scoring drive, which Landry polished off with a nifty 31-yard rushing touchdown, giving the Tigers their first lead of the game, 10-7 with 7:43 in the second quarter.

The Eagles narrowly avoided a disaster when they were able to recover their own fumble on first down, but were unable to dig out of a second-and-19. Another three-and-out gave Tucker the ball at its own 41. Williams and Yusuf Minor were unable to connect on a first-down bomb that looked like a sure touchdown, and the Tigers gave the ball back after a three-and-out of their own. Jacob Sealand’s 42-yard punt to the sideline gave Northside the ball on its own 29 with 4:55 remaining in the first half.

Montgomery’s first run of the game, a 25-yard scramble, pulled the Eagles across midfield, but not before Sealand took the rare opportunity to put an open-field lick on the Northside quarterback. After a Tiger timeout on third-and-seven, Dawson got into the backfield and knocked down Montgomery as he threw to force an incompletion.

Mixon’s perfect punt (and fantastic punt coverage from the Eagles) backed the Tigers up to their own goal line to start the next drive. Northside’s punt unit was able to cause a number of stressful situations for the Tucker offense throughout the evening. The Tigers were unable to make it past the seven-yard-line. Sealand’s punt from his own end zone sailed admirably to the Tiger 47, but the coverage appeared to be outkicked, making a big return and excellent Northside field position look like a certainty. The ball found the ground, however, and Rivers got his hands around it, lost it, then regained possession to give the ball back to Tucker at its own 49 with 1:27 left in the half. Penalties killed any chance the Tigers had to convert the turnover to points, and the clock ran out on the first half on third down. Tucker took a 10-7 road lead into halftime.

Tucker received the kickoff to start the second half, but two more procedure penalties limited the Tigers to 13 net yards over the next 2:56. Sealand booted another 40-plus-yard punt to start the Eagles at their own 13-yard-line with 8:59 left in the third. Northside went three-and-out quickly, thanks to a gang of Tigers led by Jerry Shippy chasing down Polk in the backfield to turn a third-and-one into a fourth-and-five deep in the Eagles’ territory.

After a short punt, the Tigers began a promising drive starting in Eagle territory. Minor and Landry ran for positive yardage on four straight plays and got an extra five yards from an inadvertent face mask on Landry after he broke through for a first down. From there, the drive unraveled. Another Tucker false start pushed the Tigers back to the Eagle 34. Williams gained seven yards back on the next play, giving Tucker a third-and-six with 4:04 to play in the third. After a Tucker timeout, Williams scrambled to try to break through, only to have the ball knocked loose. Sealand recovered on the Eagle 29 to minimize the damage, but Williams was shaken up on the play and had to come out.

Dominic Sanders stepped into the unenviable role of quarterback-for-a-down on fourth-and-eight, and after bobbling the snap, looked up to find himself cornered by the entire Northside-Warner Robins defensive line and had to eat the five-yard loss.

Northside took over on downs at its own 34 with 3:26 left in the third quarter. The Eagles moved the ball with relative ease, mixing in two passes for 26 yards along with productive runs to move to the Tiger 27, threatening Tucker’s three-point lead as time expired on the third quarter. Miguel Williams lined up at running back and ran right through the box on the last play of the third quarter and the first two plays of the fourth, punching in a 10-yard score standing up to give Northside the lead with 11:27 left in the game. Williams’ three consecutive runs accounted for the final 33 yards of the Eagles’ eight-play, 3:59 drive. Mixon’s point after stretched the Eagle lead to 14-10.

Tucker went three-and-out yet again on its next possession, as Northside’s defensive line got big pushes on second and third downs to drop Minor and Williams for losses. Kessler Sallette recorded the third-down sack of Williams to bring up a fourth-and-19 on the Tiger 14. The Eagles’ offense was given a 44-yard field to work with as the clock ticked under 9:00. Dawson got around the end on third-and-four to bring down Martin for a two-yard-loss to eliminate the threat.

Another well-placed and well-covered Mixon punt put Tucker on its own five-yard-line with 6:48 left to close the gap. Dallas Rivers gained a yard on first down, but the Tigers immediately followed with another false start, and the Northside defense seized the opportunity and pinned Tucker inside its own one-yard-line on fourth down. The Eagles called a timeout, and Tucker Coach Franklin Stephens used the time to decide to take a calculated risk, sending Williams back on the field with instructions to take a safety rather than risk giving up any more points. The two points gave Northside a 16-10 lead with five minutes left to play.

The greater risk of taking the safety became evident when the Tigers had to kick from their own 20-yard-line. The kick coverage team appeared to have communication issues on the unusual kick. Sealand checked in to take the kick instead of usual kickoff-specialist Lewis Makor, and the resulting punt-kick was not well-covered, allowing Hill to field it at the Eagle 39 and return it 14 yards across midfield to the Tiger 47.

As the Tigers scrambled to stop the bleeding and Northside looked to finish off its foe, Hampton found himself wide open on a delayed route down the right sideline, and not a moment later Montgomery found Hampton, who came within two yards of icing the game before being knocked out of bounds. The Eagles earned a fresh set of downs first-and-goal; and with 4:45 remaining, only a miracle for Tucker or a disaster for Northside could stop the Eagles from putting the game away. From the visitor’s stands, deciphering exactly what happened next was impossible. A sweep towards the far sideline sent all 22 players on the field scrambling to get to the same spot. The sea of jerseys stalled around the goal line, but no signal came either way from the officials. Rivers recounted that he saw the ball pop loose and that he had it in his hands before it ever hit the ground. When the dust cleared, Rivers was already twenty yards downfield with the ball, and the Tigers reclaimed the lead with 4:30 to go.

The ensuing out-of-bounds kick put the ball at the Eagle 35, and Northside turned to Martin to carry the offense. After an 11-yard gain on first down, the Eagles were unable to move the chains again, thanks in large part to a false start on third-and-one and a Sealand-and-Jackson-led gang tackle for loss to force the Eagles to turn the ball over on downs.

Tucker was unable to run out the final two and half minutes after gaining only nine yards on three downs, ultimately punting the ball to Northside on the Eagle 20. After a drop and the 25-yard gain, Williams picked off Montgomery and returned the ball to the Eagle 16, where he took a knee. Williams then returned to his quarterback position to take a knee and run out the clock on this thrilling semifinal.

Scoring

THS 3 / 7 / 0 / 7 // 17

NHS 7 / 0 / 0 / 9 // 16

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