RINGGOLD, Ga. — Brayden Slaughter could not believe the ball had popped up right into his hands, but his playmaking instincts took over and his legs did the work from there.
Heritage’s senior workhorse running back returned his own team’s blocked field-goal attempt for a touchdown with 35 seconds left to help secure a 28-21 comeback win over visiting Gordon Lee on Friday night at Jeff Sims Field.
After being held to 14 rushing yards in the first half, Slaughter helped carry GHSA Class AAA’s Generals to victory in the second half as he rushed for two scores and 75 yards while also adding his touchdown return on teammate Jake Collett’s blocked field-goal attempt that was deemed to be behind the line of scrimmage at the 34.
Slaughter made a defender miss on his go-ahead 13-yard touchdown run with 7:10 left in the fourth quarter, which capped a 12-play scoring drive that started at Heritage’s 4 with 1:26 left in the third quarter.
(READ MORE: Final scores and photos from Friday night’s Chattanooga-area prep football games)
“Our team has guts and a lot of heart,” Slaughter said. “We remained poised in the second half and worked as a complete unit. We pulled through even with our best player going down.”
The Trojans (2-1) got three first-half rushing touchdowns from Layne Vaughn, whose 12-yard score with 2:02 left before the half gave the visitors a 21-7 lead.
Heritage junior quarterback Caden Hight was perfect on what was ultimately the winning drive as he completed all six of his passes in that series for 71 yards on his way to throwing for 207 yards in the game.
The Generals (3-1) pulled off the emphatic drive despite senior Cody Bryan going down with a left forearm injury on the first play of the fourth quarter. Bryan would not return on a night when the star receiver had six catches for 97 yards, which included a 17-yard touchdown where he stiff-armed one defender and juked two more.
“This is big boy football,” Heritage coach Jeremy New said. “Somebody had to step up and make a play. All of our guys took the challenge to heart at halftime and came out ready to go. Caden and the whole offense took the game over in the second half, and our defense played fast and got some alignment issues fixed. We played freely and weren’t thinking as much. We were just going.”
Heritage junior Caiden Foster sealed the victory with an interception with four seconds remaining and the Class A Division I visitors at the Generals’ 35-yard line.
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com.