Nov. 16, 2009

Spring Garden comes up a yard short against Gaston

By Roy Mitchell

BULLDOG STADIUM – An oblong brown ball sat on the grass along Shinbone Ridge just behind Gaston High School, oblivious to the gridiron drama swirling about it.

Jason Howard, the winningest coach in the history of Spring Garden football, glanced at the game clock. On fourth down, with his team behind 14-13 in the second round of the state playoffs, and with scant more than a minute and a half remaining in the game, Howard had to decide what to do with that ball.

Gaston coach Swane Morris warned his team all week about Spring Garden's phenomenal kicking game.

“When that team gets to the 30-yard line,” Morris said after the game, “that's their goal line.”

Indeed, Spring Garden's All-State Honorable Mention kicker, Jake Scott, had already accounted for seven Panther points – and extra point and two field goals. In the first quarter, the senior booted his first from 37 yards; the second came right before halftime, a booming 28-yarder that landed well past the goal post.

With the pigskin on the 30, a field-goal attempt would be a lengthy, 46-yard try. Could Scott, after playing practically every play of the game, muster enough leg strength to guide the ball through the uprights?

Spring Garden's offense had been powered all night by their workhorse runner, Trey Littlefield, who tallied 139 yards on the ground. The senior had accounted for the other six Panther points with a 59-yard touchdown early on. Could Littlefield stretch that brown ball forward for just over one and a half more yards, giving the Panthers more downs and setting up either a closer kick or a better shot at the end zone?

With the school's first-ever trip to the third round riding on his decision, Howard explained his rationale.

“The ball was a couple of yards outside our range for us to consistently hit the field goal,” he said. “We had under a 50 percent chance of getting it, so I felt like we had a better shot at getting a yard and a half.”

Of Littlefield's 28 carries up to that point, 21 had gone for at least two yards – a 75 percent chance of success, for any who like to figure the odds.

When the Spring Garden offensive line approached the ball, the entire stadium rose to its feet. Moments later, the Gaston sidelines and bleachers erupted.

Littlefield lay on the ground, ball in his hands, tripped up by the Bulldog defense one yard short of the first down. Gaston ran out the clock to seal the victory.

With the 14-13 win, Gaston (9-3) advances to play Hackleburg Friday night.

Spring Garden finished the season 6-6, and advanced to the second round of the playoffs for the second straight year — a feat never accomplished since the Panthers football program was established in 1969.