Loris survives Waccamaw rally with late pass breakup at goal line

Having watched his team miss both of its extra-point attempts Friday night, Waccamaw coach Tyronne Davis elected to roll the dice in the final seconds.

Trailing by three points and facing fourth-and-goal from the Loris 6-yard line with 14 seconds remaining and no timeouts, Davis eschewed what would have been about a 23-yard game-tying field goal attempt and instead went for a rare win over the Lions with his final offensive play.

Thanks to Loris senior cornerback Bobby Gore, Waccamaw’s gamble came up craps.

Gore knocked away a Brandon Stecz pass at the end zone’s right pilon to secure Loris’ 21-18 win at Warriors Stadium.

“It was one of those games where you want to be in that situation at the end of the game,” Davis said. “… I thought that we had missed the two extra points. That was a case where you feel you’ve got the momentum and you want to get it when you can, so that was the reason. We rolled the dice there and it didn’t work in our favor.”

Loris (3-4) improved to 1-1 in Region VI-3A, while Waccamaw (1-6) fell to 0-2 in the region.

Waccamaw started its final possession on the Loris 21 with 3:20 remaining after it forced a punt attempt with a three-and-our stop and benefitted from a high snap over the Loris punter’s head.

Antrix Green converted a fourth-and-1 with a 2-yard run to set up first and goal. Corey Savoie ran one play for Waccamaw after sophomore starting quarterback Brandon Stecz injured his leg while scrambling with 40 seconds remaining, and chucked a pass into the end zone that resulted in a Loris pass interference penalty that moved the ball to the Loris 6. Stecz then reentered.

“I felt we were rushed there at the end,” Davis said. “We didn’t have any timeouts left so we were real cautious about what we could call there at the end because we knew the clock was running, and with seconds if you didn’t call the right play there wouldn’t be any time left on the clock.”

The Warriors attempted a couple pass plays in or near the end zone before Gore broke up the fourth-down pass. “I was just playing my man and doing my job, and I saw the pass and went for the ball,” said Gore, who also made a one-handed interception in the third quarter. “I played good, and it was good to get that win.”

It would have been an uncommon win against Loris for the Warriors, whose one win in the 18 games in the series came in 2007. The teams have played every year since 2000.

“I love the effort of our kids and the way they fought tonight,” Davis said. “They really played hard, and coming back from not playing for two weeks, I thought we actually played well.”

The teams each scored two touchdowns in the second quarter, but Loris held a two-point advantage at halftime because of a missed extra point on Waccamaw’s first touchdown and failed two-point conversion run on its second.

Waccamaw struck first on the game’s third possession, driving 84 yards on 10 plays that were aided by a pair of Loris penalties. Sam Goude capped the drive with a 38-yard touchdown reception from Stecz, beating one-on-one coverage on a deep skinny post.

Hakeem Jackson answered for the Lions on their ensuing drive, scoring on a 34-yard run that he started through the middle of the line and bounced to the left sideline. The first of Javier Dias’ three extra points gave Loris a 7-6 lead.

Loris took a 14-6 lead on a 7-yard reception by Xavier Bellamy that was preceded by a 49-yard reception by Travis Walters, and Waccamaw got a defensive touchdown to pull within two points, as Jordan Marshall picked up a missed lateral throw in the backfield to the left sideline and raced 45 yards for a score. A two-point run attempt failed.

Loris gambled at the end of the first half, reaching the Waccamaw 11-yard line but opting for a pass that was broken up on fourth-and-4 with 7 seconds left rather than attempt about a 28-yard field goal.

A Zach Jordan 61-yard TD reception in the third quarter gave Loris a 21-12 lead, and Ladarious Taylor answered for Waccamaw with a 2-yard scoring run with 5 minutes remaining in the game.

Loris was flagged 12 times for a total of 99 yards, and greatly contributed to a pair of Waccamaw scoring drives.

The Lions gave Waccamaw a first down on its first scoring drive on an offside penalty with the Warriors in punt formation, and added a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty during the drive.

On Waccamaw’s final scoring drive, Loris took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on fourth-and-7 near midfield with the Warriors again in punt formation, and added a second 15-yard unsportsmanlike call a play later.

A roughing-the-passer penalty negated a Kendall Goodson interception in the third quarter, though Gore quickly made up for the team’s mistake with an interception on the next play, giving the Lions possession at their own 49. Following a holding call on Loris, Clay Faircloth found Jordan behind the secondary for the 61-yard touchdown pass.

The game was the first for both teams in three weeks.

“I told the kids after the game this looked like a first game of the year to me, with the dumb penalties and some of that, that we weren’t getting before the hurricane came,” Loris coach Jamie Snider said. “But 21 days is a long time to go without playing. I’m just proud of the effort and how they found a way to get a victory.”

This story was originally published October 22, 2016 at 12:50 AM with the headline "Loris survives Waccamaw rally with late pass breakup at goal line."