Mary Persons perseveres over veteran Jackson squad

FORSYTH -- Senior quarterback Jake Johnston couldn’t have been prouder of his Mary Persons teammates Friday night.

With just a couple of returning starters returning on each side of the ball, Mary Persons was in for a test against a Jackson team that had 10 starters back on defense.

Although Mary Persons gave away some opportunities to score in the second half and allowed a late kickoff return by Jackson to go the distance, the young Bulldogs squad thrilled the near-capacity crowd at Dan Pitts Stadium with its resolve.

Mary Persons pulled out a 28-21 victory in double-overtime, with Johnston’s 2-yard sneak in the top half of the second overtime being the difference.

“There was some adversity (Friday) that I had never seen before, and we fought back,” Johnston said. “I love every single one of them boys. I’d do anything for them. I’m proud to be a Mary Persons Bulldog.”

The Bulldogs, who beat Jackson for the fifth time in six tries, fumbled the ball away twice inside of Jackson’s 25 in the second half and also had a receiver unable to catch a fourth-down pass in the fourth quarter deep in Jackson territory that, if caught, had the potential to go for a go-ahead touchdown.

But Mary Persons kept at it.

The Bulldogs established a field position edge midway through the fourth quarter, slowly working it to set up a potential game-winning drive.

Zach Harvey’s second touchdown, a 6-yarder with 1:17 to go, gave Mary Persons a 21-14 lead and a strong shot at victory. But Jackson’s Antavius Grier fielded a high kickoff at his own 29, found a lane along the Mary Persons sideline and returned it 71 yards to tie it right back up.

“I thought we were going to get that win there in the fourth quarter, but they ran that kick back,” Johnston said. “We knew we could play, so overtime wasn’t really a thing for us. We just had to execute, and we did that.”

After the teams traded empty possessions in the first overtime, Mary Persons worked the ball down deep with its run game, setting up Johnston’s score.

Jackson found the end zone in its half of the overtime, but a holding call wiped out the touchdown. The Red Devils didn’t come close to scoring after that.

This story was originally published August 28, 2015 at 11:11 PM with the headline "Mary Persons perseveres over veteran Jackson squad ."