Kelly Snow
Editor

BOONVILLE — The Starmount High School football team was doing what it had done in its previous 10 games and what was expected of a top-seed in the state playoffs.

The Rams were cruising, leading 21-0 early in the third quarter and appeared well on its way to a regional semifinal meeting with state power Thomasville.

But there would be no such showdown — only tears and bewildered looks across the field as ninth-seeded Lexington celebrated on the Rams’ home field after a wild second-half comeback.

The Yellow Jackets got a couple of timely breaks, made big play after big play on both sides of the ball and left Boonville with a stunning 22-21 victory in the second round of the 2A state playoffs.

The Rams, the champions of the Mountain Valley 1A/2A, ended the season 11-3.

The Jackets turned two huge second-half turnovers into points and intercepted a Jake Barr pass in the endzone with 25 seconds to play to preserve the win.

“You can’t turn the ball over like we did and expect to win,” Starmount coach Scott Johnson said. “We’ve done a good job of limiting turnovers. We only had 16 or 17 for the season, but we just had too many today.”

Starmount took a 14-0 lead into halftime and scored on the opening possession of the second half when Barr dove into the endzone on fourth-and-1 from inside the 2-yard line. Barr’s touchdown, his second of the game, capped an 11-play, 64-yard drive that chewed up the first four minutes of the second half.

Lexington got a break and began the process of breaking the Rams’ heart.

The Jackets got the ball at their own 47-yard line after they recovered the kickoff after it bounced off one of their front-line players.

Four plays later, running back Duke Horton put the Yellow Jackets on the board with an 8-yard scoring run up the middle.

Starmount was forced to punt on its next possession and on the third play of the next drive, freshman running back Marquez Grayson took a pitch and raced 84 yards for a touchdown. On the ensuing extra point, holder Daryin Medley took a high snap and alertly ran into the endzone for a two-point conversion that cut the Rams’ lead to 21-15 with 2:14 to play in the third quarter.

The Yellow Jackets got the ball right back when Barr’s first down pass into double coverage was picked off by Quandarious Crump near midfield.

Lexington marched down the field and took the lead when Horton ran the ball up the middle for a 7-yard touchdown. During the nine-play, 49-yard drive, the Jackets converted a fourth-and-4 from the Rams’ 25-yard line.

Following Barr’s second interception of the half and a stalled Lexington drive, the Rams got the ball back with 4:41 to play at their own 14-yard line.

Starmount worked its way down the field with big plays, including a 25-yard reception by Blaine Nicholson and long runs by Barr and Fondae McDaniel.

A 16-yard quarterback draw by Barr put the ball inside the Jackets’ 11-yard line with less than a minute remaining. On third-and-13 from the 14-yard line, Barr rolled to his right, planted and threw a fade pattern into the back of the endzone that fell short of the intended receiver and into the arms of Crump.

Barr finished the game with a team-high 125 yards rushing on 19 attempts and a pair of touchdowns, but completed only 5-of-19 passes for 44 yards and three interceptions.

The Yellow Jackets put all 11 defensive players within five yards of the line of scrimmage on nearly every snap, which forced the Rams’ wing-T attack into going through the air more than usual.

“That’s why we had to try to throw the ball more than we normally would,” Johnson said. “We tried to spread them out so we could have some running lanes. They did a good job of taking away a lot of the things we like to do.”

The Rams got the first big break of the game when defensive back Christian Hurt gobbled up an errant option pitch on the Jackets’ first offensive play of the game.

Five plays later, Israel Murphy scored from seven yards away to give the Rams an early lead. Starmount added another touchdown in the final minute of the first half when Barr scrambled away from pressure and dove into the endzone for a 16-yard score with 45-seconds on the clock.

That scoring drive was helped by two 15-yard penalties by Lexington, but another flag wiped away a touchdown reception to McDaniel.

NOTES: Starmount senior Clay Renegar was carted off the game on a stretcher in the third quarter. He was responsive and lifted his arm to the crowd as he was leaving the stadium ...

Three No. 1 seeds from the 2A classification lost Friday. East Duplin and Shelby, both from the 2AA (“Big 2A”) bracket, fell in addition to Starmount ...

In the “Small 2A” bracket, only three of the top eight seeds remain ...

In all, five top seeds across the state have been eliminated from the playoffs after two rounds.

Lexington 22, Starmount 21

Friday • at Boonville

Lexington 0 0 15 7 -- 22

Starmount 7 7 7 0 -- 21

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

SHS — Israel Murphy 7 run (Steven Hemric kick) 10:08

Second Quarter

SHS — Jake Barr 16 run (Hemric kick) 49.9

Third Quarter

SHS — Barr 2 run (Hemric kick) 7:54

LHS — Duke Horton 4 run (Matt Jackson kick) 6:40

LHS — Marquez Grayson 84 run (Daryin Medley run) 2:28

Fourth Quarter

LHS — Horton 7 run (Jackson kick) 9:40

Individual Statistics

PASSING: LHS — Codie Boger 6-7-0 17 yards. SHS — Jake Barr 5-19-3 44 yards.

RUSHING: LHS — Marquez Grayson 17-154, Codie Boger 13-8, Duke Horton 11-93, Quandarious Crump 4-32, Walters 1-(-4). SHS — Jake Barr 19-125, Israel Murphy 12-68, Fondae McDaniel 7-58, M.J. Bryant 5-12, Blaine Nicholson 1-0

RECEIVING: LHS — Walters 2-10, Pittman 2-9, Grayson 1-0, Burke 1-(-2). SHS — Blaine Nicholson 2-32, Fondae McDaniel 2-3, Israel Murphy 109.