By Michael Lindsay
After 11 weeks of thrilling football, a champion has emerged in Region 4-4A: the Stone Memorial Panthers.
Stone Memorial defeated DeKalb County Friday night in overtime, 29-28, to improve to 9-1 overall and win Region 4-4A via tiebreakers over Macon County and Upperman.
“We talked about a region championship and didn’t talk a lot about the consequences of losing,” said Panther head coach Derek Samber. “DeKalb wanted to beat us; Upperman and Macon were pulling against us; nobody picked us to win the region.”
Stone Memorial won via a 2-point conversion in overtime; the same formula used to defeat Upperman earlier in the season.
“That’s our DNA,” Samber said. “We’re going to go for two. As much as I enjoy the riverboat gambler aspect of it, that’s something we practice starting Monday. Our kids know our 2-point play for the week. I told our kids we’ve got 4 plays to get 10 yards, then you know what we’re doing after.”
Following a Hunter Heavilon quarterback sneak touchdown to bring the Panthers within 1 point (28-27), Heavilon scrambled and found tight end Brady Lane in traffic in the end zone, where he pulled down the game-winning reception over two DeKalb defenders.
“It was a play off our Macon 2-point play, and this was designed off the same action,” Samber added. “Hunter extended the play and did a great job. Brady came to us about a 5’8” freshman, and now he’s 6’4”. I told him his growth spurt has won us two ball games.”
DeKalb County scored on the game’s opening drive via an 8-yard touchdown pass from Jordan Parker to Malachi Trapp to take a 7-0 lead.
The Panthers answered with a 6-yard Heavilon TD rush to tie the game at 7 on the last play of the first quarter.
From there, DeKalb County took control and found the end zone twice in the second period via a 50-yard strike to Austin Nicholson and a 5-yard Trapp rush to lead 21-7 at halftime.
“I laid out at halftime everything that had to happen for us to be here,” Samber said. “All these things came together for us to win the region, and we didn’t take advantage of those in the first half but did in the second.”
The Panthers opened the second half with a 3-yard Heavilon touchdown rush to make the score 21-14.
Early in the fourth period, Stone Memorial WR Bear Eldridge found the end zone on a 33-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 21.
21-21 would stand throughout regulation, sending the Panthers to overtime with a region championship on the line.
DeKalb County scored first in OT on a Colby Barnes rush inside the 5-yard line, making the score 28-21 Tigers following the PAT.
Stone Memorial followed with a short overtime touchdown of their own, a Heavilon keeper to bring the score within 1 at 28-27.
The rest is history as Heavilon connected with Lane for the walk-off 2-point conversion to give Stone the 29-28 victory.
Heavilon went 13-20 for 191 yards and a touchdown through the air while rushing for 82 yards and 3 touchdowns on the ground.
Panther senior Kaleb Flowers racked up 81 rushing yards and 80 receiving yards in the win while Eldridge had 87 receiving yards and a touchdown.
DeKalb County will travel to Region 3-4A No. 1 East Hamilton next Friday for the first round of the Class 4A playoffs.
Stone Memorial will host 3-4A No. 4 Hixson in Crossville Friday at 7 p.m.
Coach Samber’s celebration plans are fit for a king: “I’m going to celebrate on the way home with (my wife) Alex right now, then I’m going to celebrate with a lot of Hixson film this weekend.”