CATS’ COMEBACK: Draughn erases double-digit deficit, outlasts Chase in OT
Draughn’s Sterling Radabaugh (14) celebrates a Week 3 touchdown during a road game against East Burke. Radabaugh tallied 346 total yards and four touchdowns on Sept. 12 as the Wildcats escaped a 14-0 deficit to win at Chase, 34-28 in overtime.
It’s not how you start, but how you finish.
At least, that was the case for the Draughn football team on Sept. 12 in Henrietta, where the Wildcats completed nonconference play with a 34-28 road win over Chase. Despite falling behind 14-0 early, Draughn rallied to force overtime and ultimately came away with its second victory over the Trojans in as many years and second all-time in OT at Chase (along with a 10-7 win in 2015).
The Wildcats’ Sterling Radabaugh took every snap at quarterback for the first time this season after previously splitting the QB duties with fellow senior Kayden Lytle, completing 17 of 30 passes for 288 yards and three touchdowns with one interception. Radabaugh also carried the ball 10 times for 58 yards and a score, and he intercepted a pass by Chase’s Zac Frashier on the final play of regulation as well.
“Sterling is just a kid that is gonna leave it all on the field,” Draughn coach Chris Powell said. “We’ve been doing a lot of the two-quarterback system and we’re still gonna play with it some, but we felt like tonight that Kayden could be more effective at wide receiver. But I just think he (Sterling) left it all on the field.
“We played the worst first quarter we could possibly play and were down 14-0, and then we challenged the kids at the end of the first quarter to take it one quarter at a time. We won the second quarter, and then at halftime we just told them, ‘Hey, believe in each other, don’t turn on each other. We’re in this game, stay together, be a team.’ And they did, they fought ’til the very end.”
The Wildcats (2-2) got the ball first to begin the game, but after failing to convert a fourth-and-1 at their own 39-yard line, gave the ball to Chase in plus territory. Four plays later, Frashier registered a 23-yard TD run to put the Trojans ahead 7-0 less than 4 minutes in.
Draughn again came up short on a fourth-down attempt moments later, this time on a fourth-and-2 at the Trojans’ 37. And Chase again cashed in on the turnover on downs, with Frashier scoring on a 53-yard scamper with 3:30 remaining in the opening quarter to make it 14-0 in favor of the hosts.
Draughn faced two more fourth downs on the subsequent drive, with Radabaugh connecting with senior running back Marshall Brinkley for a 9-yard gain on fourth-and-4 at the Chase 35 before later having a fourth-and-7 pass broken up by the Trojans’ Devin Mosley on the third play of the second quarter. However, the Wildcats ultimately forced Chase to punt for the first time.
Although the Wildcats began the ensuing drive at their own 9 and lost 2 yards on the first play of the series, Radabaugh hooked up with senior tight end Jacob Mull for 18 yards on the next play. On the third play, he found another 12th grader, Cayden Roscoe, for a 75-yard catch-and-run that got Draughn on the board and cut Chase’s advantage in half following the extra point from junior kicker Mylton Lopez Garcia — who was 4 for 4 on the night and is now 10 for 10 on the season — with 6:31 left until halftime.
Chase responded with an eight-play, 66-yard drive that ended when Frashier scored from 3 yards out at the 1:47 mark, but it took less than a minute for Draughn to answer back. Radabaugh’s second TD toss of the night came on a screen pass that Brinkley took 41 yards to bring the Wildcats to within 20-14 at the half.
Draughn grabbed a 21-20 lead late in the third quarter when Radabaugh followed a 40-yard strike to Lytle with a 1-yard TD run, and the Wildcats also recorded their first takeaway when junior Gavin Johnson picked off a pass early in the fourth. However, after a three-and-out, Chase regained the lead midway through the period courtesy of a 23-yard TD run from Frashier, who also converted the two-point conversion run.
After the squads exchanged punts, Draughn got the ball back with 2:36 to play and put together a nine-play, 62-yard drive that was capped by an 11-yard TD pass from Radabaugh to Mull with 29.6 seconds remaining. Every other player on the field ran to the right on the game-tying play, leaving Mull wide open on the left side of the end zone.
“I know he can make big plays at big times,” said Radabaugh of Mull, who recently made a verbal commitment to play for Gardner-Webb University next fall. “I trusted in him, trusted in our line to give me time, and we executed.”
“That play is something that will always mean something special to me,” added Powell. “I learned that play from Coach Bruce Clark, who was my mentor. Coach passed away a couple years ago in a car accident, it’ll be three years ago this December, and we hadn’t run it yet this year. Jacob’s been banged up for a couple weeks, and that’s a kid that I just want to mention too, how hard he played out here. … He’s just so multidimensional, can make great blocks, and then that catch right there in the end zone, when we ran it, as soon as I saw him take off, I yelled, ‘He’s open! Touchdown!’ And it’s one of those where you’re a little scared because he’s so open, you’re like is he gonna catch it, but hats off to him, he played a great game as well.”
Draughn’s Marshall Brinkley gained 130 total yards from scrimmage and scored the game-winning touchdown in overtime at Chase.
The job wasn’t done, though, as Radabaugh’s interception on the final play of the fourth quarter sent the game to overtime, where back-to-back 4-yard runs from Frashier gave Chase third-and-goal at the Wildcats’ 2. Frashier also gained a yard on third down before being stuffed by several Draughn defenders on fourth down, giving the ball to the Wildcats for their chance to end the game.
Draughn immediately made the most of its opportunity, with Brinkley scoring from 10 yards out on first down to give the Wildcats their first road win of the year.
“I couldn’t tell you the exact play, but I guess at one point our team decided that we were just gonna bow up and we were gonna win the game,” said Brinkley, who led Draughn’s rushing attack with 14 carries for 70 yards. “We got hit with adversity, 14-0, and we just decided that we wanted it more. I think we just came together as a team, we all did our jobs, we did them to the best of our ability, and we overcame, and we won.”
“I think early a little doubt began to creep back because we got in the same situation that we did last week against East Burke (Draughn lost by a 12-7 final in Icard),” added Powell. “We would drive the ball down the field and then we’d shoot ourselves in the foot with penalties. Those are some things that we’ve got to clean up, but with a new team I know a lot of people said we’d go 1-3 in nonconference, not many people said we’d go 2-2, and we probably should be 3-1. But we are where we are, and we tell the kids each week to take it one week at a time and focus on being 1-0 on the week.”
In addition to Radabaugh’s big night and the production they received from Brinkley on the ground, the Wildcats also had five different players catch at least one pass. Roscoe’s lone reception was the aforementioned 75-yard catch-and-run, while Mull had five catches for 66 yards, Lytle caught six passes for 64 yards, Brinkley finished with three receptions for 60 yards, and sophomore Cam Sidden hauled in two catches for 23 yards.
Nevertheless, Frashier was difficult for Draughn to stop all night. He was limited to 2-of-9 passing for 14 yards but had 34 carries for 311 yards and all four of the Trojans’ TDs, with Mosley chipping in nine carries for 43 yards as well as an interception on defense.
“I told him (Frashier) after the game to keep his head up because he’s one of the best running quarterbacks I’ve seen,” said Powell. “... Coach Wink (defensive coordinator Jonathan Winkler) and the staff did a really good job at halftime making a couple adjustments there to slow him down and corral him, and then in overtime the defense came up big when we needed them right there on that fourth-and-goal. We talk all the time about bowing your neck when your back’s against the wall, you’ve got to be able to trust each other, and they trusted each other and came up with a big play.”
Draughn was set to visit Owen for both teams’ Western Highlands 1A/2A Conference opener late Friday, and despite mixed results during nonconference play, the Wildcats still have high expectations for the rest of the season.
“I think we can compete for a conference championship,” said Radabaugh. “Each week we get better and better, our line develops better and better, and the receivers get more chemistry.”
Freedom’s Kobe Johnson had an interception on defense plus a would-be 51-yard receiving touchdown that was negated by penalty in a key spot late in the third period of a Patriots’ 31-0 road loss to Gaffney (S.C.) on Sept. 13.
Freedom hangs with Gaffney
A five-play stretch late in the third period swung what could have been a massive upset into the outcome that most anticipated-on Sept. 13 at The Reservation but make no mistake.
Freedom’s first trip outside the state for a football game was no Friday the 13th nightmare … the Patriots instead hung with 5A South Carolina powerhouse Gaffney on the road much of the way before eventually succumbing, 31-0.
Trailing 14-0 after two Indians’ touchdowns in a 3-minute span to open the second quarter, Freedom’s defense forced turnovers on four consecutive possessions spanning the halves (twice on downs).
The second of those four halted a Gaffney drive that had started in Freedom territory as junior Kobe Johnson flipped the field with an interception and 38-yard return.
The Patriots (2-2) then failed to cover a diagonal kickoff to open the second half as Gaffney set up shop on the plus side of the field once more, but an Andrew Leonard tackle on fourth-and-2 from the 20-yard line stopped the Indians 1 yard shy of the first-down marker.
Freedom’s offense again gained little traction and punted (one of 10 punts in 11 total possessions) before Gaffney moved back into the red zone, where sophomore Julius Dominguez’s big hit following a reception jarred the ball loose and Leonard recovered.
Aided by a 15-yard penalty and a Johnson 8-yard reception from classmate Kaden Davis, the Patriots moved 29 yards to near midfield where they faced a third-and-7. Davis found Johnson again this time behind the defense on a nice pump-and-go that covered 51 yards to the end zone, but a Freedom penalty nullified what would have been a TD that made it a one-score game with around 4 minutes left in the third.
An incompletion, punt, and 3-yard run set up Gaffney’s 59-yard back-breaking TD pass that grew the gap to 21-0 and all but sealed the outcome.
Davis completed 8 of 16 passes, including 8 of his first 11, and finished with 54 yards through the air. Johnson had 28 yards receiving, and senior Tiras Walker — who had three pass breakups on defense — added 18 yards. Junior Cam Brown’s 19 rushing yards led Freedom, and sophomore Jaiveon Belin pitched in with a hard-earned 10 on 10 carries.
Eddie Branch had a tackle for loss and a fourth-down stop early to end a Gaffney drive, while Gavin Garnes (two) and Daqari Kanipe also had stops in the backfield for the Patriots’ defense. Branch also punted eight times for a 33.5-yard average.
Gaffney’s Jayvon Gilmore was 15 for 25 through the air for 193 yards and three TDs, his favorite target being Jamarcus Smith (eight catches, 124 yards, TD), and Chas Smith tallied a game-high 108 rushing yards and scored twice (once rushing, once receiving).
The contest featured 20 total penalties (11 on Gaffney, nine on Freedom), including 15 in the opening half.
Freedom late Friday hosted Chase in the Trojans’ first visit to FHS since a Week 11 fight in 2011 kept a 10-1 Freedom team out of the playoffs due to excessive disqualifications.
Josh McKinney and Paul Schenkel can be reached at 828-445-8595 or josh@thepaper.media and paul@thepaper.media.
