By BRET H. MCCORMICK, Journal Sports
The Tioga Indians were down to their final snap last Friday night.
Fourth and goal, at the 4-yard line, trailing by six points in overtime.
The ball belonged in the hands of only one person.
Not Kenny Ponthier, the sophomore backup running back who stepped into a starring role Friday night with a game-high 165 yards and three touchdowns.
Not Cace Malone, the sophomore quarterback whose 22-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter appeared to give the Indians a win over rival Peabody.
With their backs against the wall, Tioga needed a big play from their senior superstar, Ja’Corian Norris, the do-everything free safety, wide receiver and kick returner who had only touched the ball four times all game.
Norris, lined up as the outside receiver in a bunch formation to the right, took a pitch in the backfield after Malone faked a handoff to Ponthier. Running to his left, Norris eluded a Peabody defender at the 12-yard line, cut up field near the hash marks, split two Warhorses at the 4, and plunged his way into the end zone for his first rushing and 10th total touchdown of the season.
“When I heard the play call, I just knew I had to get in there – no questions asked, no doubt about it,” Norris said. “That’s the only thing I could do. I wasn’t gonna stop until I got in there.”
Tioga coach Kevin Cook said despite how important Ponthier and Malone were in the victory, the last play had to be called for either Norris or fellow senior Josh Loyd.
“If we’re gonna lose, we’re gonna lose with our best players touching the football,” Cook said.
But they didn’t lose, thanks to Norris and freshman kicker Ethan Bridges. After the touchdown run, the Indians still needed to make an extra point, something they hadn’t done to that point on the night.
Bridges, who missed two PATs and had a third go awry on a bad snap, calmly took two steps forward and split the uprights to send the Indians and their fans into a celebratory frenzy as Tioga pulled out an unlikely 33-32 victory on Senior Night at The Reservation.
“He just had to make the one tonight, and he made the one that he needed to when he needed to,” Cook said.
It was an absolute classic, as the Indians improved to 7-2 on the season and 2-1 in District 2-4A. They also stayed in the running for a first-round bye in the Division I Select playoffs.
The loss, though tough to swallow for the Warhorses (6-3, 1-2), proved just how far they have come under second-year coach Harry Coleman, who inherited a team that went 0-10 the year before his arrival.
Coleman said the Warhorses “played their tails off” and came up one tackle short of victory.
“You can’t even put a meter out there to show the type of effort them boys gave,” Coleman said. “We got about five, six kids going both ways because of injuries, not wanting to come off the field. That’s effort. That’s not wanting to lose, and I can take that any day.”
Peabody took a 12-6 lead into halftime thanks to a 91-yard touchdown run by senior Dartavin Depass in the second quarter followed by an 80-yard punt return by junior TJ Hullaby.
The Warhorses appeared to be in firm control after an 80-yard drive to start the third quarter took more than 10 minutes off the clock and ended with a 9-yard touchdown run by Depass that put Peabody ahead 18-6.
But Tioga refused to back down, answering that drive with back-to-back touchdowns by Ponthier, who plowed over a Peabody defender for an 11-yard touchdown to start the fourth quarter.
The Indians then forced a turnover as senior linebacker Elliott Fruge sacked Peabody quarterback Larry Roberts III and forced a fumble that was recovered by senior defensive lineman Jayden Padgett.
On the next play, Ponthier raced in for his third touchdown of the game from 17 yards out to give Tioga a 20-18 lead. Malone’s 22-yard run with 3:25 remaining in regulation gave the Indians a 26-18 lead, but Bridges’ missed extra point kept it a one-score game.
It took Peabody less than a minute to answer as the Warhorses tied the score when Depass caught a screen pass from Roberts and ran 45 yards for the score and then took a pitch off right tackle for the 2-point conversion to tie the score at 26.
Tioga defensive coordinator John Muder said the Indians’ game plan was to try to limit Hullaby’s touches, and aside from the punt return TD he had just four receptions for 26 yards.
But Depass stepped up in a big way for the Warhorses with team highs of 155 rushing yards and 57 receiving yards.
Tioga won the coin toss prior to overtime and elected to go on defense. Peabody struck first with a 4-yard rushing TD by Roberts, but the Indian defense stood tall on the 2-point conversion and stopped Depass short of the goal line.
That set the stage for the game-winning heroics of Norris and Bridges.
“Props to them. That’s a good team over there, good players, man,” Norris said. “They fought. We fought. We just came out here and put it in and won.”
Coleman congratulated the Indians on a hard-fought win, but he added that Friday’s outcome showed how dangerous the Warhorses can be.
“A couple plays here and there, the outcome is different,” he said. “So we showed that we can be a force to be reckoned with.”
Cook said he was extremely pleased with the resiliency the Indians showed to battle back from a two-score deficit and then not to get rattled after the Warhorses tied the game late in regulation.
“Their kids played their hearts out. Both teams played their hearts out,” Cook said. “We were blessed to come out on top. I’m really proud of our kids. They could have given up when we were down. They had a 10-minute drive for a touchdown to go up by a couple of scores. It would be easy to hang your head, but our kids fought back and made some plays.”