Indians Fall To 0-2 In Heartbreaking Loss To Bleckley County Royals
A rainstorm and a sun that turned the field into mud and the air into a steamy mist made it one of the most miserable games ever played in Buck Cravey Field. Vidalia’s inability to mount a scoring drive in the last quarter just added to that misery in Friday’s 21-14 loss to the Bleckley County Royals.
The Indians and Royals had gone toe-to-toe for three and a half quarters, and were tied 14-14. After picking up a first down though, the Indians committed a holding penalty.
After a short Indian kick gave the Royals the ball at midfield, quarterback Dominic Sasser, who had a couple of TD passes on the night, was able to slam the door on the Indians on the next drive.
It was one that the Indians appeared to have stopped, when one of Bleckley’s running backs appeared to touch his knee to the ground on fourth and 2, but the ball was marked forward and the ref signaled first down. A few plays later, tailback Chuckie Stephens dove landed on the Indian goal line from a yard out with just 3:52 left on the clock.
The Indians had their chances, especially after they rallied from a 7-0 deficit to take a 14-7 second quarter lead.
After Bleckley took a 7-0 lead on a 14-yard pass to Jayden Mobley, the Indians answered with some big plays of their own.
The first was a beautiful twisting, tackle-breaking 47yard TD run by quarterback Bryce Davis. Davis got outside, picked up a couple of blocks and broke a final tackle just before crossing the goal line.
Tate McDaniel pulled his extra point just a little to the left of the goal post to leave the Royals in the lead 7-6.
When Vidalia got the ball back on a beautiful diving interception by Antrevion Williams at the Indian 10, they went 90 yards to take the lead.
The big play was a double- reverse pass from freshman wide receiver Antonio Barron to Jayden Stanley covering 59 yards all the way down to the Royal 9.
Two plays later, Bryce Davis found Josh Mincey cutting across in the back of the end zone on a second down to give the Indians the lead.
Davis then hit Barron with the 2-point conversion pass to boost the Indian’s lead to 14-7 with 6:07 left in the half.
Fourth down really bit Vidalia for the first time on the next Bleckley Drive. The Royals faced a fourth and 12 from the Vidalia 34 when Sasser hit Mobley again for the receiver’s second touchdown of the night to tie the score at 14-14.
Vidalia moved the ball quickly down field, setting up Tate McDaniel for a 46-yard field goal attempt with almost no time left on the clock. Mc-Daniel hit the kick well, but came up just short of giving the Indians a halftime lead.
Defensive teams ruled the roost in the third quarter, and neither team threatened to score until Bleckley got the game’s biggest points in the final minutes to secure their 21-14 win.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Indians next week either. Richmond Academy, a AAA team from Augusta is off to their best start in years, going 3-0 last weekend after knocking off Class AAAAAA Evans 17-16.
