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This is an opinion piece
In the closing seconds of the Class 7A title match on Wednesday night, Thompson’s 5-star defensive line rookie Jeremiah Alexander couldn’t believe what was happening.
His Warriors – No. 1 throughout the season in the Alabama Sports Writers Association poll and No. 6 nationally – followed Auburn 28-19. Hope was almost lost for a Thompson repeat.
“I saw Auburn dancing there and I was like, ‘Dang, there’s no way it’s going to happen,’ he said.
In the end, he was right.
In the most notable of high school football finishes, Thompson snatched victory from the jaws of some defeat.
Even as I write this in the early hours of what is now Thursday morning, it’s still difficult to process the final 18 seconds of what quickly became Thompson 29, Auburn 28.
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“I don’t know if I’ve had a round like this before,” Warriors coach Mark Freeman said.
I think there is a very good chance that this is not the case.
There may be even more chances that we’ll never see something like this again.
“Once in a lifetime, for sure,” Alexander said.
Not much went well in the second half for Thompson against a stingy defense from Auburn. The Warriors without injured starting quarterback Conner Harrell did next to nothing offensively. Tre Roberson – taking his first snaps of the year as a quarterback in the biggest game of the year – has been sacked five times. Auburn had 11 tackles for one loss overall.
The Tigers stopped Thompson fourth and tenth of the Warriors 20 for what looked like the final blow in a title win for Auburn. Adam Winegarden’s team took over with 1:19 to go. They were leading by 9.
“I couldn’t give up because my kids were crying and being upset,” Freeman said. “They hadn’t given up. They were injured. When we lost the quarterback, we had to regroup. Auburn smelled blood and blitzed us and knew we didn’t have a passing game. We have endured one way or another.
Then it got weird quickly. Really weird. Very fast.
Auburn had quarterback Matthew Caldwell in the lineup for the win for three straight games. However, as the games came out of the training of hunting rifles, they resulted in considerable losses.
Seven meters on the first try. Eight in a second. Nine on third. First and 10 at the Thompson 20 became fourth and 34 on the Thompson 44. Still, there was no need to panic. Time was running out and Thompson was out of timeouts and down by two points.
Auburn stood in line for punt.
“We sent 11,” Freeman said. “We had no choice. It was our blocked desperation.
Sophomore Korbyn Williams went through the right side of the untouched Auburn line and blocked Matthew Rhodes’ punt. He then followed the bouncing ball, picked it up and ran 38 yards for a score.
“I came from outside,” said Williams. “I told one of my teammates just before the shot where to go and that I could miss him if the blocker took him. That’s what happened.”
Freeman’s reaction?
“I just heard the blockade and I was like, ‘Dude, we’re going to have a good position on the pitch. Let’s do something with it, ”he said.
It was even better than Freeman thought. Trevor Hardy – who missed the game’s first PAT – made three huge plays in the final 18 seconds. The first, an extra point, reduced Auburn’s lead to 28-26.
A miracle on land. Did the warriors have two more?
“It was great to win the boulder, but honestly I was still a bit down,” said Williams. “I was just trying to cheer on my teammates on the sideline.”
Miracle 2 came when Hardy’s in-game kick was lined up with a perfect rebound by teammate Gavin Shipman. Thompson’s first run at the Auburn 48 with 15 seconds to go.
Even after that, a Thompson win still had to be seen as a long shot at best.
Roberson had only passed 84 yards in the game and had been constantly harassed by the Tiger defense. He hasn’t completed a pass in the last three games, but that didn’t matter. A pair of pass interference calls on Auburn moved the ball to the Tiger 18 with four seconds left.
Hardy threw a low line through the uprights as time went on.
It’s the same game that Thompson finishes training with every day.
“Every day we prepare for the game-winning field goal to win the state title,” said Freeman. “Just like today.”
Thompson fans and players have gone mad.
Total abatement on the other side for Winegarden, his players and the fans. Some of the players were interrupted with seconds of dancing and cuddling on the sideline. Some of the fans’ seconds withdrawn from vocals “overrated” the Warriors.
You had to feel for them. Auburn had the right plan. The players competed as hard as they could, but it was ripped off them in seconds.
Winegarden was almost speechless after the game. Who could blame him? It will take some time to overcome this one.
Eighteen seconds does not seem long.
Wednesday night turned out to be an eternity.
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