Late Defensive Stand Lifts Fairfield Central Over Lewisville

WINNSBORO | The first play of the night was indicative of just how the night would be.   Jalen Cupp fumbled on the first play of the game for the Lewisville Lions. But with seconds remaining in the game, he made two big catches to put them inside the Fairfield Central 20. And it was the Griffins' defense who sacked Matthew Cousar on the game's final play on 4th down to win a thriller, 29-22 on Friday night.   “We had to make a stop. They didn't punt all night tonight. Coach (Trent) Usher did a great job of playing with house money. He went for it on fourth down. And I'll be honest, he outcoached us tonight, you know? And those guys really deserve to win tonight (and) we just got lucky and won the football game,” Fairfield Central head coach Demetrius Davis said.   The Griffins were able to get it in Lewisville territory following the opening fumble, but a shot to the end zone was no good on fourth down from [player_tooltip player_id='1820348' first='Kaden' last='Diggs'] (pictured above).   Lewisville went on a 13-play drive that came up empty, after some nice catches from Cousar to [player_tooltip player_id='1189263' first='Jasiah' last='Dorsey'] that got them into Fairfield territory.   [player_tooltip player_id='1820262' first='Antonio' last='Price'] was a bright spot in the first half for Lewisville as he ran hard. But a touchdown pass was called back due to holding, and then Fairfield Central's [player_tooltip player_id='1820353' first='Antonio' last='Gunn'] strung out the run play and nearly had an interception with 1:32 to play in the opening quarter.   The Griffins did not take long to take advantage inside the Lewisville 45, as a long pass from Diggs led to a short 4-yard touchdown run to get them on the board at 7-0 with 41 seconds to play in the first quarter.   [player_tooltip player_id='1267330' first='Jacorreun' last='Howze'] made a first down catch right in front of the Lions bench with a defender draped over him. The Lions cashed in on this drive with an 8-yard [player_tooltip player_id='616374' first='Mikel' last='Hutchins'] touchdown run. The two-point try was no good with 11:09 to play before the half.   For every big play that the teams made, a critical mistake ended the drive, like a backwards pass on 4th down that looked to extend the drive. Or when Shannon made a catch or a corner route for a first down when the Griffins threatened to score, only to be ended by a [player_tooltip player_id='1817572' first='Jaylin' last='Douglas'] interception with 2:31 to play before the half.   There was no panic on the sidelines from the Griffins, given the low scoring first half battle.   “I told them, we're good. We know what they're doing and we're just going to go fix it and be good next drive and just go out there and do it,” Diggs told Prep Redzone SC after the game.   Momentum shifted towards the Griffins as [player_tooltip player_id='1820346' first='Chantz' last='Hemphill'] forced a strip sack fumble and they took advantage as [player_tooltip player_id='1816746' first='Kenyan' last='Douglas'] punched it in from 2 yards out to take a 14-6 lead into the halftime locker room.   Lewisville was able to take the momentum back on their first drive of the second half as they put together a 14-play, 87-yard drive, capped by a 4-yard run from Howze to tie the game at 14 with 4:06 to play in the third quarter.   The Griffins threw in a wrinkle in the second half with [player_tooltip player_id='1821811' first='Kamauri' last='Jones'] taking snaps at quarterback, and he connected with [player_tooltip player_id='1522453' first='Kaylin' last='Culp'] on a good catch out into space, which led to a 10-yard touchdown run from Jones as the two-point attempt was good with 1:56 to play in the third quarter.   Jay'sean Culp came up with a strip sack with 6:48 remaining in the contest on third down that helped the Lions get the ball back with a chance to tie. Cousar connected with Culp and Howze converted on the two-point play to tie the game at 22 with 3:15 left.   Diggs would score the game winning touchdown from a short way out, setting up the classic finish.   “I feel like I'm underrated so I just play 110% every time I touch the ball. And when I saw it was 22-22 with a couple minutes left and my cousin said, “it's your time to take over,” and I said, you already know, that's what I'm about to do and that's what I did and I punched it in for my team to get the win,” Diggs said.   Fairfield Central Team Notes   [player_tooltip player_id='1351189' first='Dre' last='Walker'] set the offense up with a big run in the fourth quarter on the game winning drive. He also did a nice job of rallying to a screen on second down. And he made an unbelievable acrobatic catch for a first down.   Martez Harrison made an interception late in the first half to prevent Lewisville from having any shot to get points before the half. He also had a key pass breakup that ended a Lions' scoring threat in the first half as well.   Lewisville Team Notes   Avery Feaster did a nice job of filling the hole where a run was supposed to go in the second quarter. And [player_tooltip player_id='1639690' first='Eden' last='Gaston'] made a hard hit on the running back on a swing pass.   On deck   Lewisville travels to Andrew Jackson, while Fairfield Central will also hit the road to face Newberry.

WINNSBORO | The first play of the night was indicative of just how the night would be.