RINGGOLD, Ga. - Northwest Whitfield used two touchdown passes and a pair of scoring runs from sophomore quarterback Luke Shiflett to defeat Ringgold 28-1 in a weather-shortened high school football game Saturday night.
A midgame thunderstorm delayed the game nearly two hours with the visitors leading 21-18. Per GHSA rules, the game could not go past midnight, and coaches Josh Robinson of Northwest and Robert Akins of Ringgold agreed, since it was a nonregion game, to stop the game at 11:30.
"It is a shame we had to stop because Coach Akins and myself would have played the entire game if we could, but GHSA rules dictated we had to stop," Robinson said.
Shiflett, in his first start, passed for 218 yards and had touchdown runs of 13 and 8 yards. His 65-yard touchdown pass to speedster Will Blanchard (three catches, 146 yards) in the third quarter essentially sealed the win.
The Bruins led 21-3 midway through the second quarter following Shiflett's second touchdown run. However, momentum turned when Garrett Morris intercepted a Shiflett pass two minutes later at the Ringgold 35.
Ringgold quarterback Devin Lancaster, after starting the ensuing drive with a 33-yard pass to Drake Starks, later hit Mac Brower for a 29-yard touchdown on fourth-and-7, and the two also hooked up for a two-point conversion to cut the deficit to 10.
Following a Northwest missed field goal, Ringgold was backed up to its 7 when Lancaster, eluding a defender in the end zone, lofted a pass over the middle to Dee King, who caught the ball at the 30 and raced to the Bruins' 20 before getting caught. Two plays later he scored from 4 yards out, with Abel Vargas' extra-point kick cutting the margin to three.
Near the end of the half, however, the first lightning strike was detected and the long delay began. When play resumed at 11:04 p.m. the Tigers forced a quick three-and-out and took over at their own 45.
A King 10-yard run and a Lancaster pass to Chase Shelby for 9 yards netted a pair of first downs to the Northwest 23, but a busted play on first down cost the Tigers 4 yards and back-to-back motion penalties set them back 10 more to the 37. On the next play a hurried Lancaster lofted a pass that was intercepted at the 1 by Cam Heard.
Three plays later Shiflett hit a streaking Blanchard for the long insurance touchdown. Any Ringgold comeback hopes were dashed moments later when Alejandro Coronel intercepted Lancaster.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296 or follow on Twitter @youngsports22