Mary Persons rallies in the fourth to stun Howard, earn playoff spot

          As his players made their way toward the locker room at half time, Paul Carroll saw less enthusiasm than he’d have liked.

          Yes, the first half basically ended with Mary Persons picking off a pass in the end zone, to end an impressive two-minute-drill drive by the Huskies. But …

          “Hey,” Howard’s head coach as well as a few assistants said, to the players, “you’re winning by four.”

          The reason for optimism grew, as did the lead, to 10 early in the third, and it was 14 points midway through the fourth. But Mary Persons tied it with 8:11 left and benefited from a roughing-the-kicker call on a field goal to score the game-winner with 2:07 left to stun Howard 45-38 at the Ed DeFore Sport Complex.

          Mary Persons sealed a spot in the playoffs with the Region 2-4A win, thus avoiding a potential three-way tie for third with Howard and Upson-Lee, which faces Spalding on Friday and gets the fourth seed with a win.

          Howard’s only chance to eke in is if Spalding hammers Upson-Lee, thus putting those three teams in a tie and forcing some math in a points-allowed equation. Spalding is 1-8 and 0-4, Upson-Lee is 3-6 and 1-3.

          Howard fell to 5-5 and 1-4 while Mary Persons improved to 5-5 and 3-2. West Laurens hosts Perry for the region title.

          The Huskies led from early in the second until the Bulldogs tied it four minutes into the fourth. Then the Bulldogs ate  up almost five minutes with the game-winning drive of 73 yards.

          Mary Persons’ Tripp Shipman made a 34-yard field goal with 2:12 left, but Howard clearly roughed the kicker, giving up a first down after the Bulldogs took the points off the board.

          On the first play, Enrico Harden scored his sixth touchdown of the night on a fairly uncontested 8-yard run. Shipman’s kick made it 45-38 with 2:07 left.

          The Huskies started on their 36, gained four yards on two plays and followed with a pair of incompletions with fairly open receivers, and that was it.

          Harden was a monster for Mary Persons, scoring a whopping six touchdowns – five rushing and one catch-and-run reception - and coming up with the interception and 51-yard return to set up the game-tying touchdown and 51-yard return, William Stewart going in from the 2 with 8:11 left in the game.

          Mary Persons took at 10-0 lead early, thanks to a huge opening kickoff return by junior Adrian Hughley that gave the Bulldogs their first possession starting at the Howard 20, Harden taking a swing pass and scoring easily from 20. The Bulldogs held, and suddenly were in the red zone again, but had to settle for a field goal.

          The 10-0 lead didn’t last long. Howard got on the board on a 45-yard pass from Jaylon Clark to an open Win Davidson, and then went on top – after holding on fourth-and- short, and for a long time – on Javarsia Meadows’ 4-yard run, the drive sparked by Jaylon Clark’s’ 26-yard run, at the x mark of the second quarter.

          Jeremiah Kelly put the Huskies up by 10 with 4:29 left in the half with a 63-yard run around the left side, but a ground-ball snap killed the PAT, but the Huskies led 20-10 with 4:29 left in the half.

          A Howard mistake helped Mary Persons to a late first-half score. A punt put Mary Persons on its 38, but a false start penalty led to a re-kick, and an improvement of 22 yards, and possession at Howard’s 45. Two Harden runs later, the Bulldogs scored, with 40 seconds left in the half.

          Howard’s first-half defense wasn’t the same as the second-half defense.

          The teams traded scores through the first half of the third quarter, Howard going up by two scores when Meadows took the pitch to the left while most went right, eased to the middle and the right for 74 yards and a score, Scott Campbell getting the inside handoff for the conversion and a 38-24 lead with 10:12 left in the game.

          The Bulldogs wasted no time, Harden taking a screen pass – on a snap after which the Bulldog offensive line didn’t move for a second - from his 29 down the left side for the score. The TD call didn’t come for about 15 seconds, Harden appearing to be marked down at the 1 for a moment.

          Harden was hurt on the play, taking a hard shot at the legs as he crossed the goal line. But Shipman’s kick made it 38-31 with 9:19 left.

          Harden came back, big. He picked off a pass inside his 40, and returned it to the Howard 2. Stewart went in, and Shipman tied it with 8:11 left.