Wyatt Jones knew it was good when the ball sailed toward the uprights.
“I knew when I kicked it,” Jones said. “I know when they go in,”
For Sumrall head coach Drew Granger, he wanted to see the officials hold up their hands confirming the kick was good before he celebrated.
“You always got to watch it through,” Granger said. “He hit it clean. Great snap, great hold and great execution and that’s the operation we want to see.”
The 45-yard kick, that would have probably been good from 60 yards, lifted the Bobcats past Purvis 26-24 as time expired.
“I was just glad Coach still had faith in me,” Jones said. “I didn’t really have the best night before, but I flipped it around at the end. I was just excited for him to call my name.”
The game winning field goal capped off an improbable three play, 32-yard drive with just 21 seconds on the clock.
“It feels special,” Jones said. “He [Coach] pointed at me when we got the ball back and told me ‘It’s up to you’, that’s when I started to go through the motions. I’m just blessed to have that moment, it was awesome,”
Down 23-17, Purvis drove the ball 80 yards in six plays, including a 67-yard pass to Parker Yawn to set up the Tornadoes inside the 10 with less than a minute to play.
Kade Lawler scored a three-yard touchdown run on 4th and goal to give the Tornadoes a 24-23 with 27 seconds.
But no game is over until the clock hits all zeros.
Sumrall quarterback Riggs Russell got the ball on his own 31-yard line with 21 seconds to play. The first play was a pass to Carsen Leslie for a one-yard loss. 15 seconds left. The next play was a 32-yard Hail Mary that Chance Daniels got under for the catch at the Purvis 33-yard line.
Jones lined up for a 50-yard field goal, but Purvis jumped offsides, moving the ball up five more yards. The rest was history.
It marked the second straight week Sumrall won a thriller. Last week, the Bobcats held off Jefferson Davis County 21-20 in double overtime.
“Our locker room is in it together,” Granger said. “Nobody cares who’s the hero. It’s program over self here at Sumrall. The scoreboard said Bobcats long before we got here, and it will continue to say Bobcats long after. If we are the best versions of ourselves, we’ve got a shot Friday night against anybody.”
Sumrall started hot with a three-play touchdown drive aided by a 65-yard pass to Braelyn Harrison. Eventually it was a Russell to Gavin Glass passing touchdown to put Sumrall on the board early 7-0.
It quickly turned into a disaster start for Purvis when they went with a couple of penalties to start, and then on third down quarterback Hunter Brewer muffed the snap and had to fall on it in the endzone for a safety, which put Sumrall up 9-0.
But the game turned on the free kick when the Tornadoes recovered the onside kick, and drove a seven play, 55-yard touchdown drive capped off with a one-yard Lawler touchdown run to bring the score to 9-7.
After trading punts, Puris took the lead for the first time midway through the second quarter when Jeremiah Daniels took a punt return 53-yards to the endzone to give the Tornadoes the 14-9 lead.
“I was proud of the way they handled the start of the ballgame,” Purvis head coach Brad Hankins said. “We could have easily packed it in when we were down 9-0 so quickly. But we didn’t and we kept fighting and that’s something we want to continue to do and build off that for the rest of the season.”
Sumrall did earn some momentum heading into the locker room when they put together a five play 65-yard touchdown drive right before halftime to go up 15-14.
It was again aided by a Harrison long pass, this one for 49 yards to put the Bobcats inside the 10 once again.
“He is an incredible young man,” Granger said. “He fights hard every day. He’s a leader and a team captain. He will play college football one day. He’s a phenomenal athlete who loves this town and fights for it every single day,”
Purvis scored the only points of the third quarter when Miguel Perez nailed a 19-yard field goal to put the Tornadoes up 17-15 heading into the fourth quarter.
After flipping possession several times in the fourth quarter, the game changed late when Jones punted the ball inside the five to pin Purvis deep up three with less than three minutes to play.
Purvis went three and out and set up Sumrall in good field possession on Purvis’ 43. The Bobcats went back to Harrison to great success, a 27-yard reception to give the Bobcats first and goal. He then scored on a one-yard touchdown run to put Sumrall up 23-17.
Harrison finished with 173 all-purpose yards and a touchdown on the evening.
That led to Purvis’ drive down the field and ultimately Jones’s game winning kick.
“It was a hard-fought football game,” Hankins said. “Two good teams went at it, and it came down to last five seconds. They got a good football team, and we have a good football team too. It was a great high school football game,”
Purvis drops to 1-2 and will face Long Beach next week.
Sumrall is now 3-0 and the mindset doesn’t change for Granger’s squad.
“There’s never been a man prouder to wear Sumrall on his chest then me,” Granger said. “I’m having the best time of my career, and it’s easy when you got guys willing to work their absolute tails off every single day of the week, no matter how they feel. Our guys show up to work.”
Bobcats travel to face West Marion next Friday.
