What was a 28-7 ballgame in favor of the Henderson County Colonels in the second quarter, turned into last second, 59-57 win for the McCracken County Mustangs in epic fashion. Henderson was up 57-45 with 1:37 to play and with zero timeouts left in their pocket, the Mustangs would turn on the jets and strike twice in those final two minutes to get the win.
Maddox O’Neal would hit Jakari Matchem with 49 seconds left to edge the deficit down to 57-52. A well-placed onside kick would get the Mustangs the ball back near midfield and with 4.3 seconds on the clock O’Neal would hit Davion Dunbar from 30 yards out to seal the deal.
“Man, we don’t quit,” McCracken Count head coach Tyler Brooks said. “They (Henderson) did a great job on us. We couldn’t figure things out defensively, but we kept swinging and we made some plays when it counted and we pulled one out.”
Passes like those final two were plentiful all night long for the junior quarterback as he tallied 419 yards in the air for 15-of-25, seven touchdowns and an interception. Those seven TD’s set a new school record for most in a game for the Mustangs.
A total of six different receivers found the end zone to help O’Neal hit the record. Dunbar hauled in two, Matchem had the game winner, with Cooper Falconite, Reed Brookshire, June Lanier and Dawson Hayden all adding end zone appearances.
“They tried to take away Cooper, but we had a lot of guys step up tonight and man, these guys are just so fun to watch,” Brooks said.
Landon Newman also found the end zone on the ground to give the Mustangs their first points of the night.
Henderson had their way with McCracken early in the night, completing several touchdown passes to Lacon McKinney on blown defensive assignments. The Colonels would then turn to their run game, the style of play they have been most comfortable with and put together big numbers including 271 total rushing yards from Anthony Burrus who would score twice for Henderson.
“Henderson did a really good job moving the ball and got our defensive backs in the back field and got some big plays early,” Brooks said. “Our DB’s got locked in and made some big plays, caused some turnovers and that flipped the script.
\One such play came from an interception courtesy of Mustang sophomore JJ Castillo that would ultimately lead to McCracken County’s first lead of the night, 38-35 with 3:09 to play in the third quarter.
Plenty would still be left to be played and be left to score as the momentum shifted several times from that point but, the momentum ended in favor of the home team when it mattered most.
“I told our guys we have another set of Colonels that we have to face next week,” Brooks said, speaking of next weeks contest against Christian County. “We have to more past this one quick, because if we lose next week then this one means nothing.”
McCracken County will look to go 2-0 in the district and even out their season record next week when they take on Christian County on the road at the Stadium of Champions.