THOMASVILLE
The storybook playoff run for Lexington's Yellow Jackets will continue for at least one more week for after a 28-21 win against rival Thomasville last night at Cushwa Stadium.
The win, in an NCHSAA 2-A West quarterfinal, was Lexington's first against Thomasville in its last 16 tries.
Lexington will play at Burnsville Mountain Heritage next week in the semifinals with a berth in the 2-A championship game on the line.
A week after bouncing top-seeded Starmount, Lexington raced out to a 20-0 lead in the third quarter and seemed to be in complete control.
Thomasville, last season's 1-AA state champion and a No. 4 seed this season, roared back to take a 21-20 lead after a 9-yard run by Kesean Green with 5:56 left.
The Yellow Jackets, 8-6 and seeded ninth, answered with a quick scoring drive that took 1:11 and was capped by freshman Marquez Grayson's 23-yard run.
Grayson, who finished with 96 yards on 10 carries, took a late pitch from quarterback Al Challenger and was immediately met by two defenders. But he extended his right arm to break free and scurried into the end zone for a 26-21 lead. Challenger hooked up with Codie Boger for the two-point conversion and a 28-21 lead.
"Just a little stiff-arm to shake them," Grayson said. "Then all I saw was open field."
Thomasville got two more cracks at tying the game late, but the Lexington defense hunkered down and sacked quarterback Sam Nelson three times on its last two series, a recurring theme all game.
The Yellow Jackets defense rang up seven sacks in all for minus-30 yards and also forced three interceptions.
Nelson entered the game with a total of four interceptions all season, and finished 4 of 12 for 76 yards.
Coach Chris Deal of Lexington beamed about the performance of his defense.
"They (Thomasville) had a couple of big plays against us the last time, so tonight we wanted to make sure we always had at least one guy over the top in coverage," he said. "We really covered well all game long. We had to get him (Nelson) off his rhythm, and a lot of those sacks we got were coverage sacks."
Four of the seven sacks came from Quandarius Crump, including three on the crucial final two series.
"We struggled really bad blocking them, especially in the first half," Coach Allen Brown of Thomasville said. "We played good defense most of the second half, but they've got a lot of weapons and you had to be worried.
Lexington led 14-0 at halftime on touchdown runs from Duke Horton and Challenger, and took its 21-0 lead after Challenger connected with Marcus Pittman from 29-yards out on a fourth-down play.
From there, Thomasville got its ground game going. Quan Riley (80 yards on 14 carries) scored on an 18-yard run for the first points, and Green added a 38-yard scoring burst that helped cut the lead to 20-14.
"I'm just so proud of our kids for not giving up, because they've been beaten by these guys for a while, and it was just huge to finally get this win," Deal said.
Lexington 7 7 6 8 -- 28
Thomasville 0 0 7 14 -- 21
L--Horton 47 run (Jackson kick)
L--Challenger 2 run (Jackson kick)
L--Pittman 29 pass from Challenger (kick failed)
T--Riley 19 run (Hodges kick)
T--Green 38 run (Hodges kick)
T--Green 9 run (Hodges kick)
L--Grayson 23 run (Boger pass from Challenger)
Records--Lexington (8-6) , Thomasville (9-5)
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement