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Saturday, Nov. 07, 2009

Dublin comes up just short against Jefferson County

DUBLIN — Good teams have skill, resiliency and a little luck.

Jefferson County sure had all three on a cold Friday night at the Shamrock Bowl, but even Webster’s Dictionary might not have a fourth word for what the Warriors experienced on their game-winning drive in a 17-10 win over Dublin that clinched an undefeated regular season.

“It’s one of those crazy games where everything you can think of happens,” Dublin head coach Roger Holmes said. “Both teams made mistakes, missed opportunities. But they made a few more plays than we did.”

It was a game that saw a touchdown pass called back on an illegal forward pass, a dropped pass on a fake punt that would have put Dublin in position to win and both teams stall on drives at their opponent’s 1-yard line.

But none of that compared to the broken play that Jefferson County turned into a crucial first down that kept the Warriors’ final drive alive. And it was a drive that ended in a 9-yard touchdown run by Barry Bostic for the win.

The game was tied at 10 when Dublin came up with a crucial third-down stop at the Jefferson County 45-yard line with just less than two minutes to play. On fourth-and-24, the Warriors snapped the ball well over punter Curtis Bell’s head. The senior retreated another 20 yards to collect the ball, then shed a few tacklers and flipped the ball forward to Charles Broadus. With the Dublin defense converging on Bell, Broadus dodged a few tacklers and darted off for a 43-yard gain, which was closer to 63 yards because he caught the ball 20 yards behind the line of scrimmage.

“That’s just some great athletes coming up with a great play when we needed it,” Jefferson County head coach J.B. Arnold said.

“It’s a busted play, and they made a play out of it,” Holmes said. “We felt like they had several lineman downfield who came back to block. But it wasn’t meant to be.”

No. 4 Jefferson County (10-0) scored two plays later on Bostic’s run to take the lead. Dublin (7-3) got to the Jefferson County 24-yard line with 13 seconds left, but quarterback Rob East was sacked twice to end the game.

It was the topping on a rough half for Dublin, which squandered some great scoring chances in the second half.

The Irish moved the ball to the Jefferson County 1-yard line on a 14-play, 85-yard drive that spanned parts of the third and fourth quarters. But the Irish fumbled the ball on second-and-goal.

Dublin got the ball back after a three-and-out and set up a punt fake around midfield. The special teams came in quickly for the offense, but running back Cedric O’Neal stayed close to the sideline to remain an eligible receiver. East threw it to the wide open O’Neal, who dropped the pass inside the Warriors’ 20-yard with less than four minutes to play.

“We had our chances,” Holmes said. “We didn’t come up with the plays, but Jefferson County is a very good football team.”