The Gordonsville Tigers won in the closing seconds in their second round matchup against the Clay County Bulldogs, winning 21-14 to advance to the quarterfinals.
The first quarter saw neither team get much going offensively, with both teams drives stalling out.
Clay County was able to find the endzone first after a fumbled punt return by the Gordonsville Tigers gave Clay the ball back inside the 20. Clay County was able to take the lead a few plays later when they ran a trick pass play to score, going up 7-0 with 9:15 left in the second.
The Gordonsville Tigers bounced right back, finding the endzone on the next drive off of a 60 yard touchdown pass from Matthew Albritton to Landon Baker to tie it up at 7-7 with 7:50 left in the half.
Gordonsville looked as if they were about to take the lead, driving inside the 10 before throwing an interception in the endzone with under two minutes left in the second quarter. Clay County was content with running the clock down, and the teams went into halftime tied at 7-7.
Both teams opening drives of the second quarter went nowhere, but Clay County took a long drive down field on their second drive, running it in with 3:25 left in the third quarter to take a 14-7 lead.
Gordonsville’s next drive saw them make it to around mid field, but the Tigers drive ended on an interception when they tried to make a big play.
The Tigers defense stepped up and stopped the Clay County offense, getting the ball back and Gordonsville made their way down field to find the end zone off of a 7 yard rush by Darrel Holt to tie it up at 14-14 with 10 minutes left in the game.
Clay County looked as if they were going to answer back to retake the lead, driving down field but the Tigers were able to force a punt as the Clay County drive stalled out as they passed midfield.
Gordonsville got the ball back at the 15 yard line midway through the third quarter and was able to get the running game going, with the Tigers able to take a lot of the time off the clock, as Gordonsville was able to run it in with Darrel Holt to take a 21-14 lead with just 10 seconds left in the game, which ended up being the game winning score.
What’s next for the Tigers?
The Gordonsville Tigers will host the South Pittsburg Pirates next Friday, November 20th in the Quarterfinals of the Playoffs.
