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The Maud Tigers entered the Class C football playoffs with history and the Medford Cardinals against them. The Tigers, who were 1-5 at home against District C-3 foes, got the monkey off their back with a thrilling 46-40 win at Derrel Pearcy Stadium on Friday night.
With the game knotted at 40, Medford was forced to punt for only the second time in the contest with just 1:22 left on the clock, and the Tigers made them pay. Shane Bailey fielded the punt around midfield and scampered around the left edge to the Medford 30-yard line and was then hit late, tacking on 15 more yards, setting up Maud with a first-and-10 at the 15-yard line.
On first down, the Tigers had a false start, backing them up to the 20, but a Bailey beauty set up Maud with a first-and-goal from the 1. Chaz Moody pushed his way into the end zone with 34 seconds left, giving the Tigers the 46-40 lead. Bailey’s run for the 2-point conversion failed as he slipped and touched a knee on the Maud turf.
Medford had a final shot, but Bailey proved he can also play defense and picked off Cameron Kilian’s pass at the Maud 30-yard line with 9 seconds left to secure the win.
“We were able to turn the game into a dog fight,” said Maud head coach Bruce Harrell. “We knew that if we could just get a couple of stops against them we might come out on top.”
The defensive stop couldn’t have been any more timely.
Medford had tied the game at 40 with 3:23 left to play, then forced Maud into their only punt of the game at the 2:10 mark, setting up the final-minute heroics of Bailey.
The contest was an offensive slugfest with both teams featuring stellar runners.
Bailey scored four touchdowns for Maud and amassed 278 yards on 27 carries. He averaged 10.29 yards every time he toted the rock.
His counterpart was equally impressive.
Greg Herrara also scored four times and traveled 235 yards on 21 carries. He surpassed Bailey on yards-per-carry with an 11.19 average.
Maud scored the game’s first points on a 1-yard run by Moody and he followed it up with another run for the 2-point conversion to give the Tigers an 8-0 lead.
Medford, like they would do all night, answered. Herrera scored his first touchdown on a 50-yard burst then the Cardinals took the lead (12-8) after recovering the onside kick after the Herrera score. The Cardinals took their first lead on a 24-yard touchdown pass from Kilian to Trey Taylor with 10 seconds left in the first quarter.
Maud answered with back-to-back scores, first a 56-yard run by Bailey and a 24-yard dash by Nick Simons. That gave the Tigers their biggest lead of the night at 22-12 with 9:47 left in the half.
Medford would lead one other time in the game, later in the second quarter. First Kilian hit Herrera on a 32-yard scoring pass, then Kilian took it in from 2 yards out to give the Cardinals a 28-26 advantage with 36 seconds left in the half.
That was the good news, but the bad news for the visitors was that Bailey had time left to do damage. And he did just that.
Maud needed just three plays to travel 41 yards for the go-ahead score. Bailey, on third-and-12 from the Medford 24-yard line, scrambled to the right then cut across the field into open daylight, giving the Tigers a 28-26 halftime lead.
Herrera and Bailey each scored in the third quarter, setting up the fourth-quarter fireworks.
Maud, with the win, will play host to Shattuck next weekend. Shattuck defeated Ryan 38-30 on Friday night.
The Maud Tigers entered the Class C football playoffs with history and the Medford Cardinals against them. The Tigers, who were 1-5 at home against District C-3 foes, got the monkey off their back with a thrilling 46-40 win at Derrel Pearcy Stadium on Friday night.
With the game knotted at 40, Medford was forced to punt for only the second time in the contest with just 1:22 left on the clock, and the Tigers made them pay. Shane Bailey fielded the punt around midfield and scampered around the left edge to the Medford 30-yard line and was then hit late, tacking on 15 more yards, setting up Maud with a first-and-10 at the 15-yard line.
On first down, the Tigers had a false start, backing them up to the 20, but a Bailey beauty set up Maud with a first-and-goal from the 1. Chaz Moody pushed his way into the end zone with 34 seconds left, giving the Tigers the 46-40 lead. Bailey’s run for the 2-point conversion failed as he slipped and touched a knee on the Maud turf.
Medford had a final shot, but Bailey proved he can also play defense and picked off Cameron Kilian’s pass at the Maud 30-yard line with 9 seconds left to secure the win.
“We were able to turn the game into a dog fight,” said Maud head coach Bruce Harrell. “We knew that if we could just get a couple of stops against them we might come out on top.”
The defensive stop couldn’t have been any more timely.
Medford had tied the game at 40 with 3:23 left to play, then forced Maud into their only punt of the game at the 2:10 mark, setting up the final-minute heroics of Bailey.
The contest was an offensive slugfest with both teams featuring stellar runners.
Bailey scored four touchdowns for Maud and amassed 278 yards on 27 carries. He averaged 10.29 yards every time he toted the rock.
His counterpart was equally impressive.
Greg Herrara also scored four times and traveled 235 yards on 21 carries. He surpassed Bailey on yards-per-carry with an 11.19 average.
Maud scored the game’s first points on a 1-yard run by Moody and he followed it up with another run for the 2-point conversion to give the Tigers an 8-0 lead.
Medford, like they would do all night, answered. Herrera scored his first touchdown on a 50-yard burst then the Cardinals took the lead (12-8) after recovering the onside kick after the Herrera score. The Cardinals took their first lead on a 24-yard touchdown pass from Kilian to Trey Taylor with 10 seconds left in the first quarter.
Maud answered with back-to-back scores, first a 56-yard run by Bailey and a 24-yard dash by Nick Simons. That gave the Tigers their biggest lead of the night at 22-12 with 9:47 left in the half.
Medford would lead one other time in the game, later in the second quarter. First Kilian hit Herrera on a 32-yard scoring pass, then Kilian took it in from 2 yards out to give the Cardinals a 28-26 advantage with 36 seconds left in the half.
That was the good news, but the bad news for the visitors was that Bailey had time left to do damage. And he did just that.
Maud needed just three plays to travel 41 yards for the go-ahead score. Bailey, on third-and-12 from the Medford 24-yard line, scrambled to the right then cut across the field into open daylight, giving the Tigers a 28-26 halftime lead.
Herrera and Bailey each scored in the third quarter, setting up the fourth-quarter fireworks.
Maud, with the win, will play host to Shattuck next weekend. Shattuck defeated Ryan 38-30 on Friday night.
