SAND ROCK – Sand Rock senior Justin Mackey had been in a crucial situation like this before, where his leg was being counted on to win a game against Cedar Bluff.

Two years ago, Mackey attempted to kick a 47-yard field goal with just seconds remaining, but his kick fell short and the Tigers came away with the win.

On Friday night Mackey got redemption, as he connected on a 22-yarder in overtime to give Sand Rock a 24-21 win.

“I had all the confidence in the world I was going to make it,” Mackey said. “I knew it was going to come down to the fourth quarter. Coach (Russell Jacoway) told us early in the week that we’ve got to finish strong. That’s what I kept telling our players, finish strong, and we did.”

Jacoway said Mackey assured him he was going to make the kick.

“He kind of smiled at me and said ‘I’ve got this one,’ and he did,” Jacoway said.

The game was another typical Sand Rock-Cedar Bluff showdown. In Jacoway’s 24-year coaching career at Sand Rock, he recalls being involved in five overtime games. Four of those have been against Cedar Bluff.

“That game was not won by coaching, and it was not won by talent. That one was won by sheer guts,” Jacoway said. “It was just a gut-it-out ball game.”

Cedar Bluff coach Jonathan McWhorter said Sand Rock “just made more plays than we did tonight.”

“They deserved to win, but I’m proud of my guys,” he said. “They laid it on the line. We fought back in the fourth quarter. We gave ourselves a chance to win, but plain and simple, we didn’t make the plays we needed to win the game.”

Sand Rock (1-0) got on the scoreboard early, as it took its opening drive 60 yards in 12 plays. Jake Thompson capped off the drive with a 14-yard touchdown run with 6:27 left in the first quarter. Mackey’s extra point put the Wildcats on top 7-0.

Thompson finished the game as the Wildcats’ leading rusher, with 99 yards on nine carries and a touchdown.

Cedar Bluff (0-1) tied the game with 7:20 to go in the second as quarterback Kyle Crane connected with Tyric Scales on a 4-yard touchdown pass to the left side. Jim Nelson’s extra point made it 7-7.

After the Tigers pounced on a Sand Rock fumble at Cedar Bluff’s 34, Crane threw for his second touchdown with a 10-yard strike to Marcus Reese with 1:17 left before halftime. Nelson nailed the point after to give Cedar Bluff a 14-7 lead at the break.

Crane finished with 157 yards through the air. He completed 14 of 22 passes with three touchdowns and an interception.

The Tigers threatened to increase their lead with the opening possession of the second half. They marched down to the Wildcats’ 20, but Sand Rock’s defense stiffened and Thompson picked off Crane to kill the drive.

Sand Rock capitalized on the turnover, as Mackey threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Shane Wells with 1:54 left in the third. Mackey connected on the extra point to tie the game at 14-14.

Mackey passed for 190 yards in the game. He connected on 17 of 29 attempts with a touchdown and two interceptions.

After Cedar Bluff returned the ensuing kickoff to its own 31, Tiger running back Skylar Boswell broke through several tacklers and appeared to be heading for the go-ahead touchdown. Sand Rock’s Brannon Burt caught Boswell and forced him to fumble the ball into the end zone, which gave the Wildcats the ball back at their own 20.

“Brannon Burt running the kid down at the one and the ball coming out was a huge play,” Jacoway said. “That was one for the ages right there. That was the darndest thing I ever saw.

“He (Boswell) broke it and had everybody beat bad, and Brannon was the last guy to have a shot at him. I really thought he tackled him in the end zone, but he got him at the one and the boy fumbled it in the end zone.”

Boswell led Cedar Bluff’s ground attack by rushing for 95 yards on 12 attempts.

Sand Rock capitalized again on the turnover, as Andy Andrews scored on a 7-yard touchdown run with 11:36 remaining in regulation. Mackey’s extra point gave Sand Rock a 21-14 lead.

The Tigers fumbled again on their next possession, but Cedar Bluff’s defense gave its offense the ball back as Nelson intercepted Mackey and returned the ball to the Tigers’ 39 with just over nine minutes left in regulation. However, the Tigers couldn’t punch the ball into the end zone and were forced to punt.

Cedar Bluff had one last chance when it got the ball back with 4:15 left on the clock. The Tigers marched 68 yards in 12 plays, and on 4th-and-goal at the Sand Rock 12 with 45.5 seconds remaining, Crane connected with Scales for the touchdown. Nelson’s extra point hit the right crossbar but bounced through to tie the game at 21-21 and forced overtime.

The Tigers had the ball first in the extra session, but came away with no points. That set up Mackey’s game-winning kick.

“Our kids have a lot of heart and a lot of character,” McWhorter said. “There is no quit in this bunch. They fought and scratched and gave us a chance to win the game, but we just couldn’t capitalize.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: With 9:20 left before halftime, Sand Rock senior Chris McMahan fell to the ground near the Wildcat sideline after attempting to make a tackle. He appeared to be having a seizure.

The game was halted for approximately 20 minutes while McMahan was loaded on a stretcher and taken to a local hospital, but Jacoway said McMahan should be fine.

“The reports we’ve gotten have been good,” Jacoway said. “Once they got fluids in him, he was fine. He had a concussion, but they also thought he was dehydrating and having some heat exhaustion problems too.

“It was very scary, especially in front of the whole team. That threw us for a loop.”