McCallie rallies past Rams with fourth-quarter surge

The McCallie Blue Tornado were in desperate need of a fourth-quarter rally to have a chance at beating Tyner on Friday night.

And that's exactly what they got, edging the Rams 20-19 after trailing by two scores at halftime.

After driving inside the Tyner 10-yard line trailing by six with 1:30 to go in the third quarter, McCallie lost a fumble that the Rams recovered.

With momentum seemingly on their side, the Rams marched 95 yards and extended their lead to 19-7 on a 15-yard dash by quarterback Travis Jones with 10:32 left in the fourth quarter. Tyner went for two points after the touchdown but failed to convert.

Tyner (1-3) forced McCallie into a three-and-out following the kickoff but was forced to punt back to the Blue Tornado after its own three-and-out.

McCallie (4-0) began the ensuing possession at its own 23 with 6:24 to go in the game and quickly moved the ball near midfield after Trent Lusk passed to sophomore running back Daniel McClure for a 22-yard gain. Two plays later, McCallie moved into Tyner territory courtesy of a 15-yard facemask penalty.

Facing a critical third down, McCallie coaches dialed up the perfect play, and Lusk hit senior wide receiver Justin Simerly on a well-executed screen pass. Simerly raced 45 yards for the touchdown.

"We don't run that play very much," McCallie coach Rick Whitt said. "Simerly was able to make the first guy miss and took it from there."

McCallie forced another Tyner punt following the score and regained possession at the Rams' 30 with 3:23 left in the game.

The Blue Tornado finally found themselves after a 2-yard run by T.J. Kemp but failed to convert on the two-point attempt.

McCallie defensive back Cody Pritchett dashed any hopes of a Tyner comeback by intercepting a last-minute pass.

"Being down at halftime, we didn't make many adjustments. We just got motivated," Pritchett said. "We just came together and it was a total team effort."