By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
There were plenty of momentum shifts Friday night in the slugfest that was the Non-Select Division I state quarterfinal playoff game between visiting Ouachita and Parkway on its home turf at Preston Crownover Stadium.
The strangest one featured three possessions – on one play.
Three early ones happened in the opening minutes, when Parkway scored rapidly on its first series, and Ouachita replied — on Parkway’s second possession.
But the one Parkway needed the most never happened. The sixth-seeded Panthers (11-2) couldn’t come up with a stop in the final 4:39, after drawing within one score, and the No. 14 Lions drove east on I-20 to Monroe with a rugged 28-22 triumph.
Ouachita (9-4) ran out the final 279 seconds using 11 plays, and two painful penalties on Parkway – effort plays that went awry, a face mask and a roughing the kicker infraction, both giving the visitors first downs.
The Lions went left, left and left again, riding speedy tailback Macario “MJ” Dade Jr. and quarterback Montrell Connor downfield, grinding away time.
“They were unbalanced over there,” explained Parkway coach Coy Brotherton, “with the tight end and the wing, and 99 (6-1, 313-pound defensive tackle or extra tight end Kameron Allen) is huge, and the running back is a 100 meter guy and the quarterback can run, too.
“You know what’s coming, your kids know what’s coming, but you still have to stay balanced in case they do something else. It’s 4-5 yards at a time, and it adds up to first downs.”
It added up to 273 rushing yards by Ouachita, all of it on 151 yards on 33 carries for Dade, 124 on 21 runs by Connor, minus a couple yards lost otherwise. They did all the work on those final 11 snaps before the roughing penalty sealed Parkway’s fate.
That happened when the Panthers got a stop and the Lions tried a 27-yard field goal with 25 seconds left. Cam Gayle snap-hooked it low and left. A Parkway player slicing in from the left edge laid out to block it and smacked into Gayle. Surely some Panther up front got a piece of the ball, right? Nope. The game officials said no and replays from media cameras on the sideline provided cruel confirmation.
“We had to get the block, and tried to make a play on the ball,” said Brotherton. “I know he missed the field goal, but if we don’t put the pressure on him, he probably drills it. We’re down six in the last minute. It’s a risk/reward. That’s just one play in 150 tonight.”
But it was the penultimate one. A kneel-down snap later, and some Ouachita players were consoling their opponents, many who were unconsolable. Tears flowed for quite a while afterwards among the Dirty Red boys from SoBo.
“I just hate that the season has to end with my brothers. It really hurts,” said senior Tony Gladney, maybe the last Panther to regain his composure.
“I just love Parkway. I love the program we have, I love the coaches, I love the players,” senior quarterback Kaleb “KB” Williams said. “I’m going to miss it.”
“You could tell how close they were, that stands out right away – how much they love each other, how much they fought for each other. It’s a special group that grew up playing together,” said Brotherton. “It’s one you love to coach and you like to see the rewards we got this year. They’ll talk about this forever.”
Williams steered the Panthers to a quick 7-0 lead, on a six-play, 78-yard drive featuring a long hookup with senior Gary Burney and ending with Braxxton Black’s 6-yard run and his two-point conversion carry for an 8-0 advantage. When Parkway staved off a response by recovering a fumble at the 1 ending the Lions’ first series, all looked good.
But Williams, pressured, threw into coverage a couple snaps later and Ouachita’s Wydell Clark Jr. snatched it for an 18-yard pick six.
Conner and Dade scored to open a 21-8 Lions’ lead. The Panthers closed the gap to 21-16 shortly before halftime. On third and goal at the 5, Ouachita knocked the ball loose from Black, with a defender scooping it and moving upfield. Tight end Draidyn Davis pickpocketed him at the 17, and took it back for six.
“A double fumble,” said Brotherton. “A break there. (Davis) makes a play on the ball and the next thing I know he’s in the end zone. Heads up play, a senior making a play.”
A later Parkway fumble near the goalline was more costly. Williams broke free from the Lions’ 29 but a defender punched out the ball from behind near the 10 and it bounded into the end zone, recovered for a touchback instead of a TD that would have boosted Parkway on top 22-21.
“It feels like the world is on my shoulders. I take the blame for that,” said Williams, in a typical stand-up mode. “It’s on me. I had a lot of mistakes I need to clean up, everybody did, but I’m the quarterback. I’ve got to be the leader of the team.”
He rallied admirably.
After Ouachita drove 80 yards for a 28-16 advantage, Parkway was staring uphill. Midway through the fourth quarter, Williams ignited, completing five straight passes, two to Gladney and three to Burney, the last a seven-yarder across the field off a scramble to Burney, capping a clutch 81-yard drive, and with 4:39 left, it was a six-point spread.
“Being locked in, knowing we needed to score,” said Williams, “knowing that’s what the team needed after so many stops. It gave us a chance to win the game.”
Ouachita’s lean to the left denied that opportunity. But it did not diminish the Panthers’ noble effort.
“This team, when we get locked in, we’re a hard team to beat,” said Williams, “and it showed.”
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com