Photo: Southside’s Cooper Yancey (2) prepares to kick the game-winning field goal as Jordan Bryan (11) holds during the Panthers’ 30-23 victory over Gadsden City last Friday (Oct. 18) at GCHS. (Courtesy of Colin Edwards)
By Chris McCarthy, Publisher
With a home playoff berth and the one of school’s biggest-ever victories on the line, one would imagine that Southside’s Cooper Yancey felt he had the weight of the world on his shoulders as he lined up for a potential game-winning field goal against Gadsden City last Friday (Oct. 18) at a sold-out Titan Stadium.
It turned out that the sophomore kicker left any kind of pressure behind on the bench after receiving encouragement from head coach Ben Stewart.
“He said that whatever happened, everyone would still love me and that I would still be their kicker,” he said. “That really calmed me down and helped me get into the moment. Adrenaline’s always a big impact in this, but I know my ability and I know my coaches and teammates’ confidence in me, so I was able to focus and concentrate on doing my part.”
Yancey’s 41-yard attempt sailed through the uprights, giving the Panthers a 24-23 lead with 17.3 seconds left in regulation.
Stewart had a premonition that the contest would be decided by Cooper’s leg.
“I told him that there were two options – he could either make the kick or he could miss the kick, and if he missed it, [the loss] wasn’t on him. But he did it, and I’m so proud of him for that.”
With the game not quite in the books, Gadsden City had an opportunity to take back the lead after senior running back T.J. Worthy returned the ensuing kickoff 35 yards to the GCHS 49. But the Titan offense stalled after two straight pass incompletions. Multiple lateral attempts on the final play of the game backfired when Southside senior linebacker Brayden Bowers intercepted the last pitch and took it 40 yards to the end zone to set the final score at 30-23.
The victory clinched the second playoff seed for the Panthers in the Class 6A Region 8 standings while improving their record to 5-3 overall and 4-1 in the region. It was Southside’s fourth straight win after losing by one point in Week 4 to region champion Fort Payne. It also marked the fifth straight year that Southside qualified for the postseason.
“We told our kids that there would be a lot of punches in the mouth tonight, and the important thing was how would we react,” said Stewart. “You can either stay down or get up and keep fighting, and we kept getting back up. We told our kids that that we didn’t want this [game to be a boxing match; we wanted it to be a bar fight, and that what it turned out to be.”
It was the second straight region loss for Gadsden City, which fell to 5-3 overall and 3-2 in region play. GCHS head coach Ali Smith pointed to Southside’s ability to drain the clock and keep the Titan offense off the field was a major factor.
“Southside had an excellent game plan, and they executed it to a T,” he said. “They snapped the ball with less than 10 seconds on the play clock most times and were able to slow the game down and keep it close. Hopefully this will turn out to be a blessing in disguise for us in terms of a wake-up call.”
The Panthers’ game-winning series was made possible thanks to a huge stop by the Southside defense. With the game tied 21-21 with 5:27 left in the game, Gadsden City drove from its own 29-yard line to the Panther 37 in five plays. Facing a fourth down and 4, the Titans decided to go for it in order to bleed out the game clock rather than attempt a field goal from near midfield.
Kai Franklin’s pass attempt to Keyshawn Curry fell incomplete, however, allowing Southside to take over on downs with 2:11 remaining.
“Time after time and time tonight, our defense came up with so many big stops on third and fourth downs, and that probably was the biggest one right there,” said Stewart.
“That’s a 50-50 ball there, and it just didn’t go our way,” said Smith. “But our defense had been playing really well in the second half, and we thought that we could get off the field.”
The Panthers eventually made to their own 49, where quarterback Jordan Bryan connected with C.J. Martin for a 30-yard pickup, and four plays after the Titans’ failed fourth down conversion attempt, Southside arrived at the GCHS 26 on a fourth and 16, setting the stage for Yancey’s big kick.
The Panthers ended up with 336 total yards of offense, including 251 rushing. Koal Garrett rushed 24 times for 146 yards and two touchdowns and had two receptions for 16 yards. Bryan was 8 for 11 in passing for 85 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 65 yards. Josh Peoples caught two passes for 17 yards.
Leading 7-6 after one quarter, Southside started off the second period with an 11-play, 48-yard possession that included Bowers running for eight yards on a fourth down and 1 and Bryan passing to Jamel Boyd for nine yards on a third down and 7. McCade Wright capped off the series with an 8-yard touchdown reception that made it 14-6 in favor of the visitors with 7:15 left until halftime.
That eight-point advantage lasted for all of 23 seconds. On the second play of the next GCHS possession, T.J. Worthy rambled for a 60-yard touchdown, and with Christopher Tomas’ PAT, the Titans were within 14-13. Worthy gained a personal milestone on that TD run, breaking Alonzo Harris’ record for the school’s all-time career rusher.
“T.J.’s the kind of special player who you don’t get to coach very often,” said Smith. “To surpass a guy like Alonzo, who set all kinds of records at Louisiana-Lafayette and played in the NFL for a little bit, that’s a pretty big accomplishment.”
Following a Southside punt, the Titans put together a seven-play, 62-yard series that resulted in Tomas’ 35-yard field goal in the last minute of the first half that made it 16-14 in favor of Gadsden City. Franklin and Curry hooked up for pass plays of 15 and 22 yards to help get GCHS into field goal range.
The Panthers cashed in on their first possession of the second half, during which Bryan broke free for runs of 27, 20 and 14 yards to help Southside reach the GCHS 1-yard line. Garrett took it in from there to provide the visitors with a 21-16 lead at the 3:33 mark of the third quarter.
The ensuing Gadsden City series ended with a missed field goal in the closing seconds of the period, but the Panthers went three-and-out on their next possession. A 46-yard run by Worthy helped move GCHS inside the Southside 5, and Worthy’s 2-yard TD on first and goal, along with Tomas’ extra point, tied the game at 21-21 with 7:39 left in the fourth quarter. But The Panther defense held firm from that point on, allowing Yancey and the Southside offense to get into position to generate the winning points.
“Our guys never wavered the whole time,” said Stewart. “I don’t care what the scoreboard says, these guys won’t ever lay down. They’ve got too much pride for that. I’m happy with the win, but we’ve got to clean a lot of things up and make sure that we take care of business the rest of the season.”
For Gadsden City, Worthy rushed 12 times for 183 yards and two touchdowns and had three receptions for 78 yards and a score. Franklin was 10 for 19 in passing for 176 yards, while Curry
caught three passes for 42 yards.
“With winning the region two years in a row, we knew everybody would be playing their best football against us,” said Smith. “As much as we wanted to win the region, the big question coming into this season was if we could get over the hump in the playoffs. We’ve just got to move on and continue to get better.”
