RINGGOLD, Ga. - Moments after the final horn sounded Friday night, a fog worthy of a Sherlock Holmes novel descended upon Don Patterson Field. It's not a stretch to think it was the collective gloom of the Ringgold High fans, knowing a shot at making the state playoffs had slipped away.
A series of mistakes and bad decisions in the fourth quarter of the Tigers' game with eighth-ranked Bremen erased an eight-point lead the home team brought into the period. The capper was a 9-yard touchdown pass to a totally uncovered Nick Vaughn with 4:54 to play that stood up - barely - for a 29-28 Bremen victory in the Region 6-AAA crossover game.
The Tigers, with a swarming and opportunistic defense making up for several second-quarter breakdowns, got a touchdown, a field goal and a safety in the third quarter to take a 22-14 lead. But the Blue Devils (9-1) had a few more big plays up their sleeve to take full advantage of a series of mistakes that will no doubt trouble the sleep patterns of the Tigers in the weeks to come.
The first mistake was actually a byproduct of Ringgold going for the kill after going up eight and stuffing Bremen on downs at midfield. On the first play, Cole Kibler took a shot downfield toward Tyler Wight, but safety Makai Terry, playing center field, picked it off.
In the ensuing drive, Vaughn caught a 34-yard pass-and-run, again uncovered, in the flat to gain a first-and-goal. Bremen's workhorse back, Tyran Dobbs, scored the touchdown (his 20th of the year) and two-point conversioni to deadlock the game.
The Tigers' ensuing drive stalled at midfield, but they called a fake punt that never had a chance. The 15-yard loss set Bremen up on Ringgold's 34, and it took only four plays for the drive to result in the Vaughn catch with no defender in sight.
"We had a miscommunication (on the fake punt). Coach thought he saw me give the nod for a fake, and I hadn't, and he did not hear me call it off," head coach Robert Akins said outside a somber locker room. "It's my fault as head coach."
Akins was less certain how Vaughn slipped unnoticed into the end zone, as he'd set up normally in a wideout role.
But the game was far from over. The Tigers, who earlier had a 20-play drive that resulted in a Joey Collins touchdown in the second quarter, marched down the field with senior Collins again shouldering much of the load in his final game as a Tiger. After five straight Collins runs ate up much of the reamaining time, Kibler went to the air and hit three completions - the last a miraculous 23-yarder to Pete Brower with just 34.8 second left in the game.
In yet another call that will be debated, the Tigers went for two and the win, but Kibler's attempt at a lob to Brower came up short into triple coverage.
Bremen easily covered the onside kick and wound down the clock and Ringgold's season.
Collins, a backup much of the year, had 29 carries and 198 yards in addition to his touchdown.
"The game of his life," Akins said. "I've never seen him run the ball like he did tonight."
Brower, like Kibler only a junior, caught five passes for 131 yards and his score. Dobbs led Bremen with 127 yards on 17 carries.
Contact David Jenkins at sports@timesfreepress.com.