Pine Forest uses last-second FG to clip Smith
Sammy Batten
sbatten@fayobserver.com
All week in practice, the Pine Forest football coaches were telling Caleb Ryan the outcome of Friday's Patriot Athletic 4-A/3-A Conference showdown with league co-leader E.E. Smith might rest on his shoulders.
It turned out to be his foot that was the key body part.
The junior converted a 26-yard field goal with 9.3 seconds to play, lifting the Trojans to a thrilling 31-28 win over the Golden Bulls at D.T. Carter Stadium.
"I know we talked about it throughout the week in practice,'' Ryan said. "Then, when we got into the fourth quarter tonight, they said, 'It's going to come down to you.' And that's how it happened.''
Senior running back Lavonte Carter, who rushed for 180 yards, set up Ryan's clutch kick with a 48-yard run on a second-down play that put Pine Forest on Smith's 7-yard line. Dominic Roberto was dropped for a 2-yard loss on first down from there before the Trojans let the clock wind down to 13 seconds before calling time out.
Enter Ryan, who averaged 32 yards as Pine Forest's starting punter last season. Prior to Friday, Ryan had converted all three of his field-goal attempts this year with a long of 37 yards.
"If the ball is on the 25-yard line we're good to go with me,'' Ryan said. "So that one was nothing.''
The boot improved Pine Forest's record to 4-1 in the Patriot Athletic and into a three-way tie for second with South View and Terry Sanford among the league's 4-A teams. The Trojans are 4-4 overall.
E.E. Smith dropped 5-1 and 7-2, but remained tied for first place with Cape Fear, which also fell Friday to South View, 27-25.
Pine Forest stuck mainly to its rushing attack all evening, in part to keep a Smith offense averaging 35.6 points a game off the field. The strategy seemed to have worked perfectly when Carter scored his third touchdown of the game on a 4-yard run with 3:21 left in the third quarter that gave the Trojans a 28-14 lead.
But senior quarterback Xeaiver Bullock rallied the Golden Bulls with his running and passing. Bullock accounted for 36 yards passing and 15 rushing in a 12-play scoring drive that pulled his team within 28-20 with 11:55 to play. His 7-yard touchdown toss to Jurrod Hall accounted for the touchdown, but the extra-point kick was wide.
After the E.E. Smith defense forced a punt, the Golden Bulls started their next possession with a 48-yard run by Rahsaan Young. Young, the team's top rusher, had been sidelined for several games due to an injury. But he returned with a vengeance Friday, gaining 118 yards on just seven carries. Young capped the drive by catching a 12-yard touchdown pass from Bullock with 7:07 left.
Bullock then ran in for the two-point conversion to tie the score at 28.
Smith regained possession with 4:02 to play, advancing into Pine Forest territory before failing to convert a fourth-and-8 play.
Pine Forest took over with 2:01 left and seconds later Carter, who is Cumberland County's top rusher this season, set sail around the left end on the 48-yard run.
"I saw our quarterback had gone out, so I had to put the team on my back and go hard,'' Carter said, referring to an injury that sidelined Pine Forest quarterback Richard McEachern for the second half. "It was go hard or go home. That pitch was open all day. I knew they couldn't stop it.''
E.E. Smith got off three passes in the final seconds, including one into the end zone that Pine Forest's Roberto intercepted to end the game.
Pine Forest finished with 341 yards rushing with 5-11, 290-pound fullback Malik Daniels supporting Carter's effort with 68 yards and Roberto adding 44.
"This team just keeps getting better every week,'' Pine Forest coach Bill Sochovka said. "The offense did a tremendous job blocking and the defense played their butts off. Everything worked.''
Staff writer Sammy Batten can be reached at sbatten@fayobserver.com or 486-3534.
PINE FOREST 31, E.E. SMITH 28
PINE FOREST;7;7;14;3 — 31
E.E. SMITH;0;14;0;14 — 28
PF — Lavonte Carter 37 run (Caleb Ryan kick)
EES — Rashaan Young 26 pass from Xeaiver Bullock (Malik Small kick)
PF — Dominic Roberto 26 run (Ryan kick)
EES — Toshiro Spivey 68 pass from Bullock (Small kick)
PF — Carter 2 run (Ryan kick)
EES — Jurrod Hall 7 pass from Bullock (kick failed)
EES — Young 12 pass from Bullock (Bullock run)
PF — FG Ryan 26
Rushing: PF — Lavonte Carter 24-180, Malik Daniels 13-68, Richard McEachern Jr. 6-33, Dominic Roberto 4-44, Jaden Jones 1-(-5), D.J. Jones 4-29. EES — Jaylyn Locklear 5-11, Jurrod Hall 1-1, Xeaiver Bullock 13-36, Rashaan Young 7-118, Bryan Davis 1-4.
Passing: PF — Richard McEachern Jr. 0-3-0, 0, Jaden Jones 3-3-0, 16. EES — Xeaiver Bullock 13-22-1, 204.
Receiving: PF — D.J. Jones 2-15, Lavone Carter 1-1. EES — Jurrod Hall 4-31, Rashaan Young 2-38, Bryan Davis 3-31, Toshiro Spivey 104.
Records: Pine Forest 4-4, 4-1; E.E. Smith 7-2, 5-1.
Next games: Cape Fear at Pine Forest, E.E. Smith at Cape Fear (Oct. 27)