Missed field goal sends Mary Persons to semifinals

Brooks Hosea’s foot was about to kick Mary Persons out of the playoffs.

The Blessed Trinity place-kicker was true all night in the GHSA Class 4A quarterfinal game at Dan Pitts Stadium. He made from 44 and 47 yards in the first half, and he also had makes from 26 and 38 yards in the fourth quarter, to go along with a first-quarter extra point.

He had yet to miss. And when Blessed Trinity advanced the ball to the Mary Persons 11 in the final minute, very few among the thousands of fans at Dan Pitts Stadium thought his aim would be anything but true.

“He’s a remarkable young man,” Blessed Trinity head coach Tim McFarlin said. “He accepted a full ride to West Point. He’s going to kick for West Point next year, and we’re just real proud of him.”

But whether it was two Mary Persons timeouts to ice him or a simple case of not connecting with the ball just right, Hosea’s 28-yard attempt with three seconds remaining steered just wide of the right upright at the horseshoe end of the stadium.

Mary Persons 28, Blessed Trinity 27. A string of Mary Persons mistakes leading to disaster was rendered moot by a barely off-the-mark kick from a place-kicker who was nothing short of perfect the rest of the night.

“I told him, ‘This will stay with you forever,’ ” McFarlin said. “But the only guy who loses in that situation is the guy who never steps into that situation, and he has done that. He’s the reason we’re here.”

Instead of packing things up for the winter, Mary Persons (11-2) now prepares for a semifinal road trip to Cartersville, a 26-15 winner over Woodward Academy. Blessed Trinity closes out at 10-3, losing to an in-state opponent for the first time all season.

And whether it was luck or answered prayers, those on the Mary Persons side of things departed Dan Pitts Stadium fully aware of how close the Bulldogs’ escape was.

“Thanksgiving was (Thursday), and Coach has been talking to us, ‘We have so much to be thankful for,” Mary Persons quarterback Caleb Speir said. “That’s 100 percent true. I’m blessed. A bunch of people in this (locker) room are blessed to be doing what we do, and we love every second of it.”

Turning point

Hosea wouldn’t have had the chance to win it for Blessed Trinity if not for a series of Mary Persons mistakes. On a third-and-1 play at midfield in the final minute, Speir misconnected with a running back on what was supposed to be a dive play to get the Bulldogs a game-clinching first down. Speir kept the ball and ran around end, sliding a yard short of the first-down marker. Mary Persons lined up to go for the first down on fourth-and-1, and it appeared as if a Blessed Trinity defensive lineman encroached the neutral zone, which would have resulted in a first down. But Mary Persons was called for a false start, a call that appeared on video to be incorrect, forcing the Bulldogs to punt. The punt turned out to be an 8-yard shank, and Blessed Trinity took over at its own 46 with 31 seconds to go. Five plays and 43 yards later, Hosea was on the field to attempt the game-winner.

Five who mattered

Roger Akins: The senior’s 69-yard touchdown catch with 10:44 to go stood as the game-winner.

Zach Harvey: Mary Persons’ senior running back picked up short yardage when needed, running for 80 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries.

Quen Wilson: The Mary Persons sophomore ran for 155 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries.

Ryan Davis and Will Carlton: The two Blessed Trinity receivers carried most of the load for the Titans’ passing game, combining for 176 yards and two scores.

Observations

Two effective quarterbacks: Both Speir and Blessed Trinity’s Jake Smith moved the ball fairly well. Both threw for more than 180 yards and completed more than 50 percent of their passes, and both had long touchdown passes, Smith for 41 and 50 yards and Speir for 69 yards. Smith also had a 20-yard scamper on Blessed Trinity’s final drive.

Kicking game looms large: In addition to field goals, Hosea handled Blessed Trinity’s kickoff and punting duties, and several of his kicks resulted in either touchbacks or a significant reversal of field position. Mary Persons, meanwhile, had issues with its punting game. The biggest issue came in the final minute of the third quarter when a bad punt snap gave Blessed Trinity the ball at the Mary Persons 17. The Titans were held to a field goal in that situation.

Secondary steps up: Mary Persons picked Smith off twice in the second half, including one where Vic Henderson tipped a Smith pass to Tyricus Danielly.

Worth noting

Waiting awhile: Mary Persons head coach Brian Nelson is taking the Bulldogs to the semifinals for the first time in his five seasons as head coach. The last time Mary Persons played in the semifinals was 1998, when Steve Chafin, in his first year as Dan Pitts’ replacement as head coach, guided the Bulldogs to the Georgia Dome and a loss to Early County.

Big win, historically speaking: Mary Persons knocked out a Blessed Trinity team that lost to Westminster in last season’s Class 3A championship team. Two years ago, Blessed Trinity fell in the semifinals to A.J. Gray-led Washington County.

They said it

Mary Persons defensive lineman Malik Herring on the final seconds: “It was so crazy. I never saw The Pit rocking like that. It was a blessing. From working freshman year just to get to the second round to now being able to head to the fourth round, it’s a blessing.”

Speir on the lead-up to the missed field goal: “I don’t know about everybody else, but I was on a knee for about a good three minutes, praying, praying, praying that he would miss that thing.”

Speir on the missed opportunity to put things away: “It was a miscommunication between me and the running back. I didn’t know the down and distance, I wasn’t aware of it, so I just tried to stay inbounds, which was a mistake on my part. But we got lucky.”

Speir on the possibility of things slipping away: “It was just thinking, ‘This really can’t be happening to us right now.’ After all of the work we put in, I was thinking there was no way in the world this is about end like this. But the defense stopped what they could, and it paid off.”

Mary Persons head coach Brian Nelson on the game’s conclusion: “If we had tried to screw it up more than we did the last minute and a half, we couldn’t have done it. We couldn’t have even tried to screw it up as bad as we did in the last minute and a half. And that’s my fault. We mismanaged a couple of things and did some things. But their kicker, he was making field goals all night long, and he gets it down to whatever it was. I don’t know how to explain it. I really don’t.”

What’s next?

Mary Persons’ luck didn’t extend past the Dan Pitts Stadium grounds, as the Bulldogs lost their coin flip with Cartersville for semifinal hosting rights when school representatives met late Friday night. Their game will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Friday in Cartersville. That winner will meet the Thomson-Jefferson winner at 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 10 at the Georgia Dome for the Class 4A championship.

This story was originally published November 25, 2016 at 11:11 PM with the headline "Missed field goal sends Mary Persons to semifinals."