Courtesy of Sand Mountain Reporter
Sardis High was in control of its playoff destiny for 54 minutes last Friday (Oct. 21) in Sardis City.
But Randolph put together back-to-back scoring drives late in the game to steal a 28-27 win. As a result, the Raiders (6-3, 3-3) claimed the No. 4 seed in Class 4A, Region 7 and knocked the Lions (3-6, 2-4) out of the state playoffs.
After Sardis held Randolph to a three-and-out to open the game, the Lion offense put together a nine-play drive to score on its opening possession. Logan Gaskin completed two key passes on the drive to set Sardis up in scoring position. The first was a 23-yard pass to Temon Wilson on third-and-six. Gaskin then completed a 14-yard pass to Ross Strickland to set up a first-and-goal at the 3-yard line. Gaskin then scored the first of his three touchdowns on a 1-yard run. Javen Smith added the PAT to give Sardis a 7-0 lead with 6:38 left in the first quarter.
Randolph responded with a scoring drive that took less than two minutes. Samuel Kimel hauled in a 35-yard pass from Forrest Webber to set the Raiders up inside the Sardis 10-yard line. John Evans later punched the ball in from the 4. After the PAT, the score was tied at 7-7 with 4:48 left in the first quarter.
Sardis responded with a 65-yard drive that ended with a 2-yard scoring run by Gaskin. The PAT failed, but Sardis took a 13-7 lead just five seconds into the second quarter. Midway through the second, Sardis put together another drive on the strength of a 20-yard run by Drew Vaughan and a 39-yard reception by Josh Maynard. Gaskin capped the drive off with a 2-yard touchdown run. Gaskin also ran in the two-point conversion to put Sardis up 21-7 at the half.
Sardis also scored on its opening drive of the second half on an 11-yard run by Vaughan. Sardis went for two points on the conversion. The attempt failed but Sardis led 27-7.
Randolph, however, put three unanswered touchdowns on the scoreboard in 10 minutes to take the lead. The first came on a 14-yard touchdown run by Bradford Layton. Three minutes later, Layton hauled in a 10-yard touchdown pass from Webber to pull the Raiders to within six. The final points came on a 23-yard pass to Kimel from Webber midway through the fourth quarter. All three point-after conversion attempts were good to give Randolph a 28-27 lead with 6:38 remaining in the game.
Sardis had two opportunities to take the lead in the fourth, but fumbles on the Randolph 34 and 23-yard lines ended both drives.
Sardis hosts Boaz this Friday to end the season.