MICKEY MILLER BLACKWELL STADIUM – We’ll try to tell the full story of Piedmont’s 43-42 overtime loss to Gulf Shores High School Thursday night, but Piedmont coach Steve Smith pretty much summed it up with one sentence.

“They made one more play than we did,” he said. 

Piedmont, ranked No. 3 in Alabama in Class 3A, stood toe-to-toe with the bigger, stronger and faster Dolphins. But the game came down to Gulf Shores coach Mark Freeman’s decision to attempt the two-point conversion after his team closed to within one in overtime.  

Dolphin players and coaches rushed the field in jubilation after the play Smith was referring to, when quarterback Brandon Silvers rolled right, faked a pass, and then outran a Bulldog defender to the goal line for the dramatic victory. 

Moments before, Piedmont had gone ahead on a nine-yard scoring pass from Chris Strott to Demetrius Johnson to take a 42-35 lead. 

“Every time we punched, they counter-punched,” said Smith, whose 2009 team won the Class 3A state title. “Last year, a one-point loss in overtime was the turning point of our season. We’ll go back to work next week. Hopefully, we’ll learn from this.”  

The loss snapped a 13-game winning streak for the Bulldogs.

Early on, both offenses mostly swung and missed. The Dolphins opened the scoring halfway through the first quarter on a 13-yard pass from Silvers to Andrew Tranchina. But Silvers struggled to find his rhythm throughout the first half. The junior jogged into the locker room with only seven completions in 18 attempts, with a TD and an interception. 

Behind the running of Derrick Jackson and Jamey Major, Piedmont managed to gain over a hundred yards on the ground before halftime, but multiple miscues -- including a bad snap from center and an interception -- either backed the Bulldogs into their own territory or ended potential scoring drives.  

Jackson finished the game with 160 yards rushing and two scores.

Piedmont finally tied the score at 7-7 with 2:33 left in the opening quarter following a Gulf Shores fumble on a punt return. Strott darted through the middle of the Dolphins defense for the final 16 yards, then kicked the point-after. 

Neither team threatened again until the closing minutes of the second quarter, when Piedmont drove to the Dolphins' 15-yard line. But Strott's field goal attempt fell well short of the crossbar as time expired.

Whatever Smith and Freeman said to their players in the locker room had the desired effect. The second half was a completely different story for both teams, who combined for 71 points after the break. Twice, Piedmont pulled out to a double-digit lead, only to see the Dolphins’ pass-heavy offense come alive and close the gap both times.  

The Bulldogs went ahead 14-7 only 12 seconds into the third quarter. One play after Johnson’s 61-yard return to the Gulf Shores 25-yard line, Jackson blasted into the end zone for the score. On the ensuing kickoff, a Dolphin return man fumbled the ball directly into a pack of charging Bulldogs.

From the Gulf Shores 20, Piedmont needed only three plays to score again. Johnson crossed the final three yards with less than two minutes gone in the quarter and the Bulldogs led, 21-7. 

After the Dolphins closed to within seven on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Silvers to Chris Tilley, Johnson darted through the Dolphin kick coverage team again, this time for an 83-yard score and another 14-point Piedmont lead. Johnson finished the game with over 180 all-purpose yards. 

But the quick scores by the Bulldogs ultimately left Gulf Shores plenty of time to battle back. The Dolphins finally caught up with 8:41 left in the game.

After the Piedmont defense blitzed on third-and-long, Silvers rolled left and threw across his body to Tyler Dunnam in the corner of the end zone from 14 yards out. Nick Anagnostopoulos added his fourth of five extra points to make the score 28-28. 

Piedmont went ahead again less than two minutes later on a 20-yard run by Jackson. But Silvers drove the Dolphins down the field one more time and threw his fifth TD pass of the half to Alec Szapiel with four minutes remaining. Silvers finished the game 20-of-48 for 274 yards. 

After Silvers dove over a fast-closing Johnson to win the game in OT, several exhausted Piedmont players pounded the ground with clenched fists. Others sat dejectedly on the immaculate turf at the Gulf Shores Sports Complex with their heads bowed. 

Suddenly, perhaps in a show of appreciation for a great game and the opportunity to take a trip to the beach to see it, the massive Piedmont crowd began shouting "It's-great, to-be, a-Piedmont-Bulldog!"

Piedmont (6-1, 5-0) returns to the Field of Champions Friday to face Saks. Smith said a win over the Wildcats would secure the Bulldogs’ first region title since 1994. But, he added, the prospect of adding to Piedmont’s storied football history didn’t do much to soften the blow of a 360-mile bus ride home after a tough overtime loss to a team they thought they had put away. Twice.  

“They’re all in there right now, just heartbroken because they hate to lose,” Smith said, pointing to the locker room that held his football team. “But that’s the kind of kids I want playing for me.”