Northeast stunned on the road in 14-13 loss to Bleckley

When the unsportsmanlike conduct flag was thrown with about 15 seconds left in Northeast’s showdown with Bleckley County in Cochran late Friday night, some Raiders groaned.

Others hung their heads, slumped their shoulders or ambled over to the sideline in disgust.

Perhaps the most fitting Northeast reaction of all came when one defender sank to his knees, lowered his head to the ground and — still helmeted — thunked his skull against the turf.

The penalty against the Raiders was the final nail in the coffin, the gut-wrenching ending to a torturous second half that saw opportunities go by the wayside as Bleckley County secured a stunning 14-13 upset win over Northeast after a scrappy affair that left Royals fans ecstatic and Raiders fans haunted.

Northeast head coach Jeremy Wiggins was plenty upset about the loss himself. The win would have given the Raiders, now 5-2 overall and 5-1 in Region 2-A Division I, firm control of the region heading into the final stretch of the season.

The penalty, which was apparently called because of something said by a Northeast player near a referee, came after some issues with the game clock running or stopping at odd times upset Raiders fans and coaches.

Wiggins made no excuses. The unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was just that — the final nail. There were many other things that doomed Northeast.

Its offense, despite getting into the red zone several times, could not score any points in the second half after putting up 13 in the first. On the latter of those two touchdowns — right at the end of the half — a missed PAT ended up being the difference on the scoreboard.

On defense, the Raiders seemed dominant, allowing a touchdown on Bleckley County’s first drive of the game before containing their foe all night — until there were about four minutes left in the game and the Royals got a hole on a run play. 

Bleckley County running back Deondrez Robinson took advantage of perhaps the most costly mistake this season by the normally suffocating Northeast defensive line, darting through the gap for the decisive 44-yard score.

On the Raiders’ subsequent drive, a false start penalty turned second-and-short into a longer distance, and they turned it over on downs. Then came the unsportsmanlike penalty — and with it, pure dejection.

“We just couldn’t weather the storm with our penalties, we put ourselves there. We can’t play those type of games,” Wiggins said. “We just can’t leave it in nobody else’s hands. We get into the red zone two or three times, we gotta score, especially on the road. They did a good job of slowing us down and taking away some good things that we like to do.”

As the team left the field, Raiders fans were shell-shocked. Shouts of “We can’t win here” — Northeast has only defeated Bleckley County once on the road in six tries, that win coming a decade ago — and other lamentations were heard as the bleachers emptied.

“It’s hard right now. It’s just hard,” Wiggins said. “We have to regroup and come back. That’s it.”

The game got off to an electric start. The Royals ventured down the field using surprising chunk gains on third-and-longs, getting big plays when they needed them most to drive 70 yards on a sequence capped by a pass to Kelvin Sneed to give Bleckley County a 7-0 lead.

The Raiders struck back immediately despite getting the ball back on their own 6-yard line on a bad kick. After a 1-yard rush, quarterback Jordan Wiggins uncorked a massive throw to Tavares Tinsley that the wide receiver hauled in, pulling away from defenders for a 93-yard strike to tie the game.

Then Northeast recovered its own kickoff, and it looked like the night would be a frantic one. 

Bleckley County held them out of the end zone, though, and the rest of the opening half had a slower pace for both squads, though, as untimely fouls — many of them presnap flags — hampered drives for both teams. 

Northeast nearly scored again, but Jordan Wiggins threw an interception inside the 5-yard line. Bleckley County had a nice drive going, but the Royals came up short running a tush-push-style quarterback run on a fourth-and-1 play, much to the chagrin of the coaching staff.

Only when Northeast got the ball on the Bleckley County 26-yard line with a little less than two minutes in the half did the cogs turn again.

The Raiders had a whacky pass play where Keandre Jackson caught a pass inside the 5 but fumbled, only for the loose ball to be scooped up by lineman Latrell Stephens for an apparent touchdown — but officials ruled that a Northeast player had kicked the ball, spotting the Raiders at the 14-yard line.

It mattered little as Northeast made sure the clock wound down a bit before Glover punched it in on the ground from 5 yards out with a few seconds left until intermission. A subsequent missed PAT and failed Royals attempt at a Hail Mary made it a 13-7 lead at the half for the Raiders.

The second half saw Northeast get into the red zone three times, failing to score on each go-round. The Raiders’ opening drive of the second half chewed up nearly eight minutes of clock before the two teams exchanged quicker three-and-outs.

It looked like all the momentum was on Northeast’s side early in the fourth when Keiland Miley snagged a one-handed interception on a deep ball, but the Royals got their moment a few drives later on Robinson’s big run.

The Raiders failed to convert a fourth down on their last-gasp drive after their offensive line collapsed, leading to a crushing sack. But Northeast still had two timeouts, just enough to save about 20 seconds left for one last miracle shot.

Instead came the flag, which was thrown before Bleckley County’s fourth-down play as they let the play clock wind down. The Royals improved to 6-1 overall and 5-1 in the region.

Northeast has a week off before facing Central on Oct. 16, while Bleckley County travels to Dublin Oct. 17.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly noted that Deondrez Robertson scored Bleckley County’s first touchdown. The story has been updated to reflect that wide receiver Kelvin Sneed caught the scoring pass.