Stratford comes up one step short of Georgia Dome

AUGUSTA -- Basically left for dead, the Stratford football team came up with a comeback for the ages.

Trailing by two touchdowns in the final four minutes Friday at Aquinas with seemingly all momentum lost, the Eagles found a second wind through their passing game and a big special teams play.

The Eagles scored two touchdowns 15 seconds apart, using a spectacular two-point conversion to tie things up.

Had Stratford found a way to pull it out, the Eagles would have snapped Macon-Bibb County's 40-year absence from the GHSA finals in incredible fashion. But Aquinas had one more touchdown left to score, and Stratford came up 5 yards short of the end zone on fourth down with 12 seconds remaining.

Aquinas won 35-28, earning a spot against Eagle's Landing Christian on Dec. 12 in the GHSA Class A private school championship game at the Georgia Dome.

"They just never quit; they never gave up," Stratford head coach Mark Farriba said. "They found a way to get themselves back in the game. It's a credit to their heart and their determination and their character. That's all it is, the guts to fight to get back in it."

The third-seeded Irish (12-1) won regular-season and Region 7-A championship matchups with the Eagles (9-4) earlier in the season. Their trip to the Georgia Dome appeared to be sealed midway in the fourth quarter when they shut down Stratford on fourth-and-goal, turning around and driving 95 yards to go up 28-14 on D'Angelo Durham's 29-yard touchdown run, his second of the night.

Aquinas recovered the ensuing kickoff, a pooch kick that went roughly 20 yards, but Stratford's defense stiffened, stopping the Irish a yard short of a first down with 4:53 to go and the ball at the Eagles' 38.

Stratford, which made limited use of the passing game for the first three quarters, opened up its offense at that point, dropping quarterback Sim Patrick into the shotgun.

Back-to-back passes to Quintez Cephus, his only two catches of the night, put the ball in the red zone. O'Showen Williams punched it in from 2 yards out, and Stratford closed it to 28-20 following a missed extra-point kick by Jake Jamison that hit the right upright.

Redemption followed quickly for Jamison, a sophomore place-kicker. His onside kick attempt eluded the Aquinas front line, and Stratford recovered the ball at the Aquinas 38. A late hit penalty took the ball further into Aquinas territory, down to the 23.

Kasey Sanders ran it in for a score on the first play after the onside kick, then there was more drama on the conversion attempt to tie it at 28. A couple of flips of the ball put the ball in Cephus' hands, and he passed the ball to Patrick, who became a receiver on the play.

Aquinas, however, had an answer.

The Irish needed just four plays to score after starting their drive on their 41. Liam Welch, who completed 14-of-18 passes for 227 yards, connected on a 27-yard touchdown pass to his brother, George Welch, with 1:01 to go.

"I sort of counted them out too early," Liam Welch said."They know how to make a close game; we've seen it the last two years. The defense stepped up and battled big."

Leading 35-28, the Irish almost left too much time on the clock for another Eagles comeback.

A 33-yard kickoff return by Williams allowed Stratford start at the Aquinas 47. A 41-yard pass to Williams took the ball to the Aquinas 6, giving Stratford four downs to score with 42 seconds remaining.

A pair of short runs by Williams and Sanders didn't pan out, and Patrick was forced to spike the ball on third down in order to set up a final play.

Stratford lined up in the spread. Patrick found John Michael O'Quinn in the end zone, but they were unable to connect on the pass in traffic. Aquinas regained possession with 12 seconds remaining, securing its second Georgia Dome trip in three years.

This story was originally published December 4, 2015 at 11:31 PM with the headline "Stratford comes up one step short of Georgia Dome ."