South Oak Cliff used a pair of Aledo turnovers and a decisive three minute stretch late the second quarter to stun three-time defending champion Aledo 33-28.
The loss overshadowed a pair of gritty performances by Sammy Steffe and Bryan Allen, who stepped in for a pair of offensive starters who were sidelined by injury.
Steffe got the start at running back with starter Ryan Williams out after his elbow injury in last week’s game. Steffe was the leading rusher in the game with 197 yards on 32 attempts, including TD runs of 27 and 5 yards.
Allen, a starting safety on defense, took over as the wildcat back in place of injured receiver Hoss Henjy, who missed his second consecutive game. Allen finished with 51-yards on 14 carries when he ran the ball after getting a direct snap from center. He also scored on a 6-yard run and a 19-yard pass from quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi.
Allen’s 6-yard TD run with 9:52 left in the game gave the Bearcats a 28-27 lead with 9:52 left in the game. Aledo’s defense had held South Oak Cliff without a first down for the entire third quarter. However, on their third possession of the second half, the Bears moved the ball 64-yards on 11 plays to regain the lead.
The winning drive included a 4th-and-six conversion for South Oak Cliff.
The Bears scored on an 18-yard pass with 4:14 left in the game.
Aledo began its final drive at the 30 with 4:14 left and moved 51 yards on 11 plays when it faced a fourth-and one at the South Oak Cliff 15 with 48 seconds left in the game.
Quarterback Fowler-Nicolosi didn’t cleanly handle the snap on the play and the Bears recovered at the 14-yard line to end the threat.
“At the end I felt like if we don’t fumble the exchange, we’re going to win the football game,” Aledo coach Tim Buchanan said. “But Coach Todd did a great job of taking our passing game away from us early, and we gave them a couple of things in the first half that we should not have given them. You can’t give a good football team a two-touchdown lead at half.”
Even though Aledo had 70 more yards of offense than South Oak Cliff, 359-289, the two turnovers proved too much to overcome.
The game was tied at 14-14 with 3:46 left in the first half after Steffe’s second touchdown run.
However, South Oak Cliff scored just a 1:38 later to take a 21-14 lead with 2:00 left in the first half.
Aledo looked to use the passing game to try an get points in the last two minutes. On second and two from the Aledo 28, Abdul Muhammad stepped in front of a pass intended for Brian Flemming and returned the interception for 38 yards and a touchdown to give South Oak Cliff a 27-14 lead at halftime.
SCORING
1st HALF
A – Sammy Steffe 27 run. (Clay Murador kick) 7-0
SOC – KeAndra Hollywood run (Diefo Varela kick) 7-7
SOC – Jamyri Cauley 6 pass from Kevin Henry-Jennings 14-7
A – Steffe 5 run (Murador kick) 14-14 with 3:46 left in 2nd quarter
SOC – Kevin Henry-Jennings 3 run (Varela kick) 21-14
SOC – Abdul Muhammad 38-yard interception return. (Kick blocked) 27-14
2nd HALF
A – Bryan Allen 19 pass from Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi. (Murador kick) 2:05 left in third quarter 27-21
A – Allen 6 run (Murador kick) 9:52 left in 4th quarter. 28-27
SOC – Randy Reece 18 pass from Henry-Jennings. (Pass failed) 33-28 with 4:14 left in the game.
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