What We Saw: Lexington rallies past River Bluff

<p style="font-weight: 400;">After a season-opening loss, Lexington has continuously found ways to win football games. The Wildcats did it again Friday night when they erased a 13-point halftime deficit to rally for a thrilling 21-20 victory over River Bluff to open Region 5-5A play in front of an electric atmosphere in The Swamp.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The win snapped a three-game losing streak to River Bluff and sets Lexington (5-1) into solid position to earn a playoff-berth after going winless the Covid-shortened season last year.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">It was a dominant second half that made the difference. <strong>Tyler Walker</strong> scored the tying touchdown on an 11-yard run with 2:44 remaining and <strong>Tyler Chavis</strong> kicked the game-winning extra point.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">But the playmakers were in abundance for the Wildcats. <strong>Blake Smith</strong> set up the game-winning drive with an interception, his fourth of the season. After Walker and Chavis gave Lexington the lead, <strong>Grady Johnson</strong> made a leaping interception to give the Wildcats the ball back.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">River Bluff (2-4) looked like they might get one final chance but they muffed a punt and <strong>Reese Waites</strong> recovered the loose ball with 1:09 remaining. River Bluff was out of time outs and Lexington ran out the clock in victory formation.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Lexington opened the second half with a 19-play, 80-yard drive that consumed 8:20 of the clock. <strong>Keshawn Gladden</strong> capped it with a 1-yard run.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Walker had 102 yards on 23 carries with Gladden chipping in with 44 yards on 13 attempts. The defense limited River Bluff to 28 yards in the second half. Smith led the way with eight tackles and three pass breakups. Waites added eight tackles as well.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">“We don’t have a lot of superstars; we have a lot of great football players that really love playing together,” Lexington coach Perry Woolbright said.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">River Bluff controlled the first half to take a 20-7 lead at the break. <strong>Thomas Powell</strong> opened the scoring when he took a screen pass from Hunter Sheppard and raced 32 yards for the score. <strong>Brady Orr</strong> then added a 44-yard field goal to make it 10-0.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Tanner Johnson</strong> got the Wildcats on the board when he intercepted a pass and returned it 72 yards for the score. But on the ensuing kickoff, Powell handled the kick but threw a lateral across the field to <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="202727" first="Apollos" last="Cook"]</strong>, who fielded it, ran down his sideline for a few yards then cut back all the way to the other sideline to take it 82 yards for the touchdown.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Cook had 118 return yards to go with six catches for 25 yards. Powell, a South Carolina baseball commit, added five catches for 53 yards and a 55-yard kickoff return. Cook and Powell also played in the defensive secondary. <strong>Cooper Johns</strong> rushed for 82 yards and <strong>Connor Clamp</strong> had 17 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and an interception.</p>