By Michael Lindsay
A 13-point deficit late in the third quarter was no issue for the Macon County Tigers (5-2, 2-2) Friday evening as a 35-point second-half outburst led them to a 49-27 victory over DeKalb County (5-2, 2-2) in Region 4-4A play.
“We actually started the game really fast, then made some uncharacteristic mistakes,” said Macon County head coach Kyle Shoulders. “We knew if we could clean it up, we felt fine offensively and defensively.”
Macon County trailed 27-14 with less than 3 minutes remaining in the third period before scoring 5 touchdowns in the game’s final 14:36.
“There was a sense of urgency, but with that there was collectiveness,” said Shoulders. “A lot of times with urgency comes panic, but that wasn’t the case. Our guys played together in that second half.”
Running back Zach Borders led Macon County with 219 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns on 16 carries followed by 151 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns from quarterback Luke Gammon. Gabe Borders tacked on 57 rushing yards and a touchdown in the win.
“There’s a lot of older guys that made a lot of plays tonight,” said Shoulders. “But what I was more impressed with was the number of young guys that stepped up and made plays. They were thrown to the fire tonight and answered the call.”
DeKalb County quarterback Jordan Parker went 11-23 for 119 yards and a touchdown through the air while rushing for a score as well.
Macon County scored on the game’s opening drive via a 17-yard jet sweep to Gabe Borders to make the score 7-0. DeKalb County answered with a 31-yard touchdown strike from Parker to Jon Hendrix to tie the game at 7-7.
A blocked punt set up Macon’s next touchdown as Gammon rushed one in from 25 yards out with 3:06 left in the first period to give the Tigers a 14-7 lead after one quarter.
DeKalb County took control in the second period as the Tigers recovered a muffed punt at the 4-yard line and scored one play later via a Ryan Lyons touchdown rush to pull within one at 14-13.
DCHS took their first lead of the game later in the quarter via a 19-yard touchdown rush and 2-point conversion run by Jordan Parker with 6:56 left until halftime to make the score 21-14 DeKalb.
DeKalb County tacked on a 33-yard field goal by Adrian Prater late in the second quarter to give DCHS a 24-14 lead a the half.
DCHS tacked onto their lead to open the second half as Prater hit another field goal with 5:43 remaining in the third quarter to extend DeKalb County’s advantage to 27-14.
Macon County faced a third-and-long from inside their own 21-yard line on the ensuing possession before Gammon connected on a 52-yard completion to Kelan Hire, setting up a 27-yard touchdown rush by Zach Borders on the next play to pull Macon within one possession at 27-21 with 2:36 left in the third period.
MCHS would find themselves in the lead 1 minute and 17 seconds later as Luke Gammon broke loose for an 80-yard touchdown run to give Macon County a 28-27 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Macon County wasn’t done lighting up the scoreboard there as Zach Borders rushed in a 10-yard touchdown to open the fourth quarter and give MCHS a 35-27 lead with 10:09 remaining.
Zach Borders had another touchdown left in the tank as the broke loose for an 88-yard touchdown run less than 5 minutes later to extend Macon County’s lead to 42-27 with 6:58 left.
Macon County added the exclamation point via a special teams touchdown with 2:12 remaining as they blocked a DeKalb County punt in the end zone before Taylen Swaffer returned it 4 yards for a touchdown, giving Macon County a 49-27 victory over DeKalb County.
“We try not to look forward,” said Shoulders. “But we knew the importance of tonight and we have a bunch of fighters and they didn’t back down.”
Macon County improves to 5-2 overall and 2-2 in Region 4-4A play. The Tigers are scheduled to host Livingston Academy (3-4, 0-3) on Friday while DeKalb County travels to Cumberland County (2-4, 0-4).
