HobbsDailyReport.com
HUDSON – In a game that literally came down to the last play on Friday night, Hickory High nipped South Caldwell 27-23 by scoring in the final seven seconds of a Northwestern 3A-4A football game.
Hickory quarterback Derrien Phillips threw a pass toward the end zone as the clock neared 0:00, and it was tipped by two South Caldwell defenders before Jaekwon Staton hauled it in to provide the visiting Red Tornadoes a victory.
HICKORY 27
SOUTH CALDWELL 23
STONE
The dramatic win denied the Spartans (1-8, 1-4) their second win of the season and left Hickory (6-3, 3-2) in a four-way tie for second place with Freedom, Watauga and West Caldwell.
Hickory, after losing six straight to the Spartans, now owns a two-game win streak in the series.
Phillips threw for nearly 190 yards, hitting Antonio Parks five times and Staton five times, as the Red Tornadoes reach six wins for the first time since 2013. That 6-6 team was the last at HHS to make the state playoffs.
South Caldwell had taken a 23-21 lead with 33 seconds to play on a 31-yard field goal by Carlos Maysonet, setting up the electrifying final drive for Hickory after a long kickoff return to about midfield by Staton.
Hickory led 14-6 at the half, scoring on Phillips’ pass to Parks and on a 30-yard run by Jaelin Byrd. The Spartans scored in the final 25 seconds of the opening half on a Jason Martin to Austin Raynor throw.
There was no scoring in the third quarter, then South Caldwell scored twice in about two minutes to take the lead.
Harley Sullivan ran for a TD and Aaron Kirby’s 89-yard interception return had the Spartans up 20-14 with about 8 ½ minutes to play.
Phillips’ 9-yard run and a PAT by Harrison Boston gave Hickory a 21-20 lead with about six minutes to play.
The victory, No. 268 in Hickory head coach Russell Stone’s career, gave the Red Tornadoes 10 wins in their last 43 games.
Hickory leads its series over South Caldwell, which started in 1977, 27-10.
The Red Tornadoes and Spartans each have two conference games to go. Next Friday night, Hickory plays unbeaten and league-leading Alexander Central in Hickory while South Caldwell travels to St. Stephens. Both games kick off at 7:30 p.m.
In regular-season finales on Nov. 3, it’s Hickory at St. Stephens and Alexander Central visits South Caldwell.