Coach Laymarr Marshall of Mount Tabor said he had never seen his team as discouraged as it was during halftime of last night's second-round playoff game against Reynolds.
Maybe that's what made the Spartans' wild celebration all the better.
The Spartans, their white jerseys stained with mud from the spongy field at Deaton-Thompson Stadium, scored three unanswered touchdowns in the final 17 minutes and made two harrowing defensive stops in the fourth quarter to hand Reynolds its only loss of the season 26-22.
As a result, the Spartans (10-3) will travel to Asheville Reynolds (11-2) for a quarterfinal game of the Class 4-A playoffs, and heartbroken Reynolds, the No. 1 seed in the bracket, finished its storybook season at 12-1.
The Spartans trailed 22-7 when it started the comeback, put in motion by Brad Morton's 46-yard touchdown run and all but completed when the Spartans swarmed running back Kevin Simmons of Reynolds and forced a fumble on second and goal from the 4 with about four minutes left.
"We have been in that situation before," a jubilant Morton said. "We were down 21-3 against Carver and we never gave up and came back and won."
Chris Manns, a standout defensive tackle who snuffed a Reynolds drive earlier in the fourth quarter by stopping Craven Knotts on fourth and 1 from the 17, said it was all about playing hard.
"We are playing hard and smart and I never lost confidence in my team," Manns said. "I honestly felt they shouldn't have beaten us the first time. Tonight we played harder than them and we came through."
Reynolds, which fell behind 7-0 early, battled back to control most of the first half and led 14-7 at halftime. And with Knotts, the Demons senior quarterback putting on an epic performance, the only thing that could stop Reynolds were the crucial second-half mistakes that eventually did.
Jermane Clark fumbled into the end zone from inside the 1, Knotts was stopped on fourth and 1, and Simmons fumble.
De'Vyne Julius, a senior receiver and defensive back for Reynolds who caught four of Knotts' passes for 142 yards, had eyes so puffy he could barely see through them after the game.
"For whatever reason, it just wasn't happening for us this time," Julius said. "It happened. We played our best. We played our best."
Knotts completed 14 of 30 passes for 377 yards and two touchdowns, and Jake Gainey caught six passes for 151 yards and a score.
But Mount Tabor, on a night when Morton wasn't as sharp as usual, did their damage on the ground. D.J. McCain, rumbled 32 times for 171 yards, and Morton added 60 on six carries as the Spartans leaned on their size and strength advantage.
"This game, we had our chances and didn't capitalize, and they had theirs and did capitalize," Coach Mike Propst of Reynolds said. "And we were afraid that they might line up and mash us. We are afraid of anyone that can do that and they can. That's been our Achilles' heel at Reynolds in my eight years here. The first time we played them they didn't do that. Tonight they lined up and pounded us because they are a little better than us on the lines. They made a great coaching adjustment and beat us."
Marshall, Mount Tabor's second-year coach, spoke highly of Reynolds.
"I just want to say congrats to Coach Propst and his entire staff and their kids," Marshall said. "They have a great team and we have the ultimate respect for them. We ran into the same situation last year. We had the number-one seed and we ran into a great opponent in the second round.
"But that's just how the draw goes. I hate we had to play this early. Great game. And I have to give it up to my kids for battling back."
mlinker@wsjournal.com.
727-7324
Mount Tabor 7 0 7 12 -- 26
Reynolds 6 8 8 0 -- 22
MT – Green 18 run (Furr kick)
RJ – Simmons 42 pass from Knotts (kick blocked)
RJ – Gainey 20 pass from Knotts (Clark run)
RJ – safety; fumble out of end zone
RJ – Simmons 3 run (kick blocked)
MT – Morton 46 run (Furr kick)
MT – McCain 3 run (pass failed)
MT – Stokes 12 run (pass failed)
Records – Mount Tabor 10-3, Reynolds 12-1
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