Georgetown pulls out another close win over St. James

It doesn’t seem to matter what day the game is played, who the opponent is, whether it’s at home or away, or if its raining or the sky is clear.

If Georgetown is involved, it’s likely to be a close game, and the Bulldogs are likely to find a way to win.

On Thursday night at St. James, a 76-yard touchdown pass on third-and-17 with 3:37 remaining proved to be the winning score that elevated Georgetown to 5-1 on the season with a 28-21 win to open Region VII-AAA play.

“That’s just who we are. We’re just a bunch of fighters. That’s what we train for,” Georgetown coach Bradley Adams said. “We’re overachievers, and we feel if we’re in the ballgame at the end, we always feel we’re going to find a way mentally to hopefully find a way to win.”

Georgetown has reeled off five straight wins following a nine-point loss to Conway in its opener, with each of the past three over Carvers Bay, Loris and St. James (3-3) – teams in classes A, AA and AAA – coming by seven points or fewer.

“It’s the difference of about five or six plays,” said St. James coach Robby Brown of Thursday’s game.

The game was moved up a day because of impending heavy storms expected over the next few days and was played through a steady if not heavy rain.

The weather and wet field conditions didn’t keep either team from moving the ball, as they combined for 38 first downs, and the game was back and forth as each score either gave a team the lead or tied the score until Georgetown’s final touchdown wasn’t answered.

“It’s very important that we started off 1-0 so we have a good chance of taking it all. We want the whole region, we want to take it all,” Georgetown senior wide receiver and defensive back Cavonte Gamble said. “We knew it was going to be a tough game, but we had to face adversity and we came through. I just think everybody in the region is hard to play against and whoever plays the hardest wins.”

Faced with a third-and-17 from Georgetown’s own 24 on potentially its final possession of the game, quarterback Jarvis Brown found Deakidd Anderson streaking over the middle just behind the defense for the late go-ahead score.

Georgetown was in a third-and-long situation following a holding penalty on first down that backed them up 17 yards to their own 14.

“Unfortunately we’ve relied on the big plays. That’s kind of how it’s been all year for us,” Adams said. “It’s not that we don’t move the football on offense, we just kind of stall when we get down inside the red zone, so the big play has been big for us.”

Following the score, the Sharks picked up first downs on three consecutive passes, but with 2:26 remaining Ahmaud Swinton intercepted a Zach Werba pass at the Georgetown 40, stepping in front of Jackson Hurston on a slant.

The Sharks got another chance, however.

They had all three timeouts remaining, and after they used two following two short runs, Georgetown’s Brown looked for Anderson deep down the field again with 2:03 to play. But the pass was broken up as Anderson went to the ground after having initial control of the ball.

The Sharks took over on their own 37 following a punt and converted a fourth down, but they turned the ball over on downs near midfield after losing 11 yards to a holding penalty and gave up a sack to Justin Reed and Sheldon Billings.

“That’s kind of been our Achilles heel over this past year is we’ve been struggling a little bit on the defensive side of the ball, but we made the plays when we needed to,” Adams said.

St. James ran 78 plays compared to Georgetown’s 54 and gained 395 yards. Jamarius Faulkner gained 121 yards and scored a TD on 18 carries, Jay-Mion Pressley gained 93 on 16 carries and Werba completed 16 of 35 passes for 150 yards and had a few passes dropped in the wet conditions.

“We did move it on them,” Brown said. “But at the end of the day I don’t get into stats too much, it’s how many points can you put on the board and obviously we needed more tonight.”

St. James scored first on a 30-yard Pressley run early in the second quarter and it was answered by a 98-yard kickoff return by Reggie Point on the ensuing kickoff.

“The kick return I think was the changing point in the game,” Gamble said. “We know [Point] can do it. He always does it.”

Brown put Georgetown ahead 14-7 with a 4-yard scramble run, and with 23 seconds left in the first half, Werba rolled to his right and scored on a 2-yard run to tie the game.

Georgetown took the lead on the opening possession of the second half, as Brown was 5-for-5 passing for 42 yards in a 10-play, 62-yard drive capped by a 13-yard scoring reception by Gamble in the back of the end zone.

The Sharks immediately responded, as Faulkner took their fifth play of the half 65 yards for a touchdown. He ran straight through the middle of the line and Georgetown did not have a safety in the defensive backfield.

St. James drove to the Georgetown 20-yard line midway through the fourth quarter before taking and missing its second field goal attempt of the game. The Sharks missed a 47-yarder in the first quarter.

“Special teams hurt us with the kickoff return, you can’t give them an easy touchdown on a kickoff return,” Robby Brown said. “We’ve got to hit a field goal there. We have to get off the field on certain downs on defense. Then giving up a third-and-[17]. … We didn’t get it done. They’re a good football team. Take nothing away from them.”

This story was originally published October 1, 2015 at 10:48 PM with the headline "Georgetown pulls out another close win over St. James."