Highlight-reel play provides bright spot for Green Sea Floyds in season-ending loss

With only 24 seconds left in the game and Green Sea Floyds down 30-6 against Latta, senior quarterback Jacquez Geralds lined up behind center to take what would be his last play in a Trojans uniform on fourth-and-10 on the Vikings’ 35-yard-line.

Geralds dropped back and couldn’t find an open receiver so he decided to take the ball himself. After scrambling around the backfield, dodging defenders and with nowhere else to go, he took two steps back and threw a prayer toward the end zone.

His prayer was answered when it found the hands of sophomore Shaquan Gillard for a score and the Trojans, who ended their season with a 30-14 loss, went out with a bit of a bang on senior night in front of a crowd that witnessed one of the crazier plays in recent memory.

“I hope somebody has that on video, that ought to be on ESPN’s plays of the day,” Trojans coach Tony Sullivan said about his team’s last play of the year. “But the best thing about it is, is that Jacquez will have that memory for the rest of his life. He will always remember that last play.”

Green Sea Floyds (3-7, 1-4) won only three games this year but Sullivan says it doesn’t matter. He said his players came out every night and competed and played good football every time they took the field. He was pleased with how the Trojans have grown over last year’s winless season and he’s proud of his seniors who came back this year and played hard.

“The scores of these ballgames don’t tell the story correctly,” he said. “We were either tied or even ahead at halftime of every game this year but with all of our players going both ways on offense, defense and special teams, we just wind down.”

Green Sea Floyds came out strong again on Friday night as it took its second drive of the game straight down the field and scored a touchdown as junior quarterback Riley Lovett sneaked the ball in from the one-inch-line after eating up most of the time on the clock.

However, Latta (7-3, 4-1) scored four touchdowns in the second quarter and that was all that the Vikings needed to come away Friday as it awaits the playoffs in two weeks.

Vikings running back Kartilus McFadden started the scoring burst with a 9-yard run and then it was all in the hands of quarterback Colby Lee as he found the end zone the next three times with touchdown passes of 45, 40 and 57, the last coming with only 7.8 seconds left in the half.

“We just made some bone-headed plays,” Sullivan said. “We had guys making the wrong plays and we just shot ourselves in the foot.”

The Trojans ran the ball 63 times and racked up 190 yards on the ground and took up a majority of the game clock, but they couldn’t quite get it done Friday. Sullivan hopes this year’s experience will help as his young team goes forward.

“We have a lot of young kids on this team and our JV squad went 7-1 this year with our same system, so I’m looking forward to coaching this system next year and in the years to come,” he said. “When I came in, I was the third different coach in four years and a majority of the coaches before that didn’t stay over four years. I plan on staying for a long time and running this system and making a name for this school in area football.”

Senior running back Henry Moody led the way on the ground for Green Sea Floyds with 68 yards on 15 carries.

McFadden ran the ball 20 times for 106 yards and a touchdown, and Lee was 10-for-22 passing for 219 yards and three touchdowns.

This story was originally published October 31, 2015 at 12:51 AM with the headline "Highlight-reel play provides bright spot for Green Sea Floyds in season-ending loss."