It went right down to the wire as the Franklinton Demon defense stepped up to keep the Pearl River Rebels from scoring with only 1:29 left in the game to preserve a 21-14 victory and securing second place in the District 9-4A race.

With the clock ticking down Pearl River quarterback Matt Smith was picked off by Demon defensive back Brian Dykes to end what turned out to be a nail biter.

Both teams entered the contest with identical 3-1 records in district play and tied for second place behind Salmen.

Pearl River'€™s Kendall Twillie breaks up a pass intended for Franklinton'€™s LeSean Williams (3) during a District 9-4A game held at PRHS. (Photo by Gwen Ladner)

The first quarter turned out to be a scoreless, defensive struggle as each team jockeyed for field position.

On Franklinton’s first possession quarterback Terrance Magee fumbled the ball, and Jonathan Broom jumped on it for the Rebels to stop the drive. 

The first score came at 7:18 of the second quarter. The Demon offensive line came alive and drove the ball to the Rebel one-yard line. Magee took charge from there going in for the score.  The Demons lined up for the point after but Pearl River jumped off side not once but twice moving the ball to the one.

The Franklinton coaching staff decided to go for the two-point conversion. Demon running back Reggie Wilson made Pearl River pay by running it in with ease to make it 8-0.

Five minutes later Franklinton got on the scoreboard again this time through the air. Magee connected on a 23-yard scoring pass to Lesean Willliams. Place kicker Spencer Jennings split the uprights to make it 15-0.

Pearl River mounted their best drive of the first half getting to the Franklinton 21-yardline. But on fourth-and-short the Demon defense held fast to stop the Rebels short of the sticks to take over on downs as Ronnie Wheeler, Robert Thomas, Joshua Marks and Brent Tate teamed up for the stop.

With a 15-0 lead and only 19 seconds left in the first half, Franklinton tried something that came back to bite them. On their own 21, the Demon’s tried the old Hook and Ladder play that failed miserably. Chris Briggs, in his haste to make the lateral, fumbled the ball. Kendall Twillie picked it up at the Demon 28-yardline and took it the distance with eight seconds showing in the half and now only down 15-7 following a successful PAT by Kevin Dancer. When asked about his decision to run such a dangerous play deep inside his own territory Demon coach Shane Smith was quick to respond.

“We have run that play three or four times this season and have scored twice. My thought was to score quickly and demoralize them at halftime but it didn’t work out for us.”

Franklinton, obviously stinging from the Rebel score, came out with a vengeance marching 55 yards on 10 plays to score.  Jeromy Burton lugged it in from three yards out to widen the gap to 21-7 after Jennings missed on his PAT.

The Rebels came right back with a nice drive of their own culminating with a 30-yard touchdown pass from Smith to Jacob Maxwell to cut the Demon lead to 21-14. 

But that was as close as the Rebels would get as the Demon defense held on for the victory.

“We moved the ball well tonight,” said Smith. “We knew we could get outside on them and we did. Our offensive line did a great job and our defense was outstanding.”

The statistics were close. Franklinton had 289 total yards to Pearl River’s 215. Magee led all rushers with 123 yards on 15 carries. James Gillum led the Rebels on the ground with 87 yards on 32 carries, which was well below his average. Magee hit on 10-of-13 passes for 104 yards while Smith hit on 4-of-5 throws for 80 yards.

Pearl River coach Joe Harris was obviously disappointed with the loss.

“We have no excuses. It was just our inability to score points.  Our kids played hard and never quit.”

Both teams head into the playoffs next week with their opponents yet to be determined.