SPORTS

South Gibson stays unbeaten, edges South Side

Brandon Shields
bjshields@jacksonsun.com

In the football game between South Side and South Gibson, it was apparent the last team to make a play would be the one to come out with a win.

Hornets quarterback Austin Duncan made a play on defense to keep his team ahead late in the game, then made another on offense in the final minute to secure a 30-27 win over the Hawks.

“We wanted this win because we want to win every game,” Duncan said after the game. “Winning this one was important.”

South Side got the ball back with about seven minutes left after South Gibson turned the ball over on downs.

The Hawks had a couple of third- and fourth-down conversions to keep the ball, and they appeared ready to score with the ball on the South Gibson 15-yard line with about three minutes to go.

South Side quarterback Cade Willingham looked left toward the end zone and sent a pass in that direction for a possible touchdown. Duncan was playing defense on that side and jumped up to deflect the pass.

“That’s not something we work on, but it’s something Coach [Scott] Stidham says I can do because I’m able to do it and I have a feel for when the quarterback will throw it because I play that too,” Duncan said.

“I’ve been coaching 22 years, and I think I’ve seen it work twice,” Stidham said. “Tonight was the second time.”

Duncan deflected the ball, and it fell forward toward a South Side player. The Hawk tried to catch it, but he couldn’t get a grip on it. The ball slipped from his hands and into Duncan’s hands.

“Yeah we’ve never drawn that one up or worked on it … ever,” Duncan said.

South Gibson had the ball and tried to run the clock down by calling running plays and keeping it in bounds. South Side caught on to the Hornets’ tactics and brought everybody up to stop the run quickly.

It worked as South Gibson faced third-and-12 from its own 34.

“We’d given it to Tyler [Dysart] the play before, and they seemed to be ready for him to get the ball,” Stidham said. “Austin told me he thought he could get something if he ran with it, so that’s what we called.

“He didn’t tell me he would run out of bounds with it though. But I was glad to get the first down anyway.”

When South Gibson snapped the ball on the 50 on the next play, there was 45 seconds left. It took one more knee to finish the game.

“I thought it was a fun game and a fun second half to be a part of, and we just came up short in this one,” South Side head coach Brian Moore said. “Give South Gibson credit for making the plays to win.

“We had a shot at it, and they made the plays to keep us from taking the lead there late.”

Dysart finished with four touchdowns – three rushing and one in a punt return in the first quarter after the Hornet defense picked up a safety.

Dysart was glad to have the productive game after having a bye week last week.

“I didn’t really like not playing last week because we’d been playing well, and I didn’t want us to stop,” Dysart said. “But we wanted to come out tonight and kept doing what we’d been doing.

“I was glad I could contribute to that.”

Tariq Robinson had two rushing touchdowns for the Hawks, and Cade Willingham had two touchdown passes.

Dysart’s punt return touchdown came after Krayton Woods got into South Side’s backfield deep in Hawk territory for a quarterback sack that caused a fumble into the end zone. A South Side player covered it to give the Hornets their first two points of the night.

Calem Rich kept South Side from scoring late when he intercepted a Hawk pass on the possession before Duncan’s interception on the Hornet 1-yard line.

“I don’t believe in bend-but-don’t-break defenses, but that’s a time when I’ll take it,” Stidham said. “I’m just glad we got this win, and I’m proud of the guys for earning this one.”

The Hornets host Westview next week, and the Hawks will have a week off before traveling to Westview on Oct. 16.

Brandon Shields, 425-9751

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