It was a night of highs and lows as Cedar Bluff closed the regular football season at Bruce Field Fri-day night.

Tiger senior Josh Moten became the state’s all-time leading receiver with about seven minutes left in the third quarter, but Cedar Bluff (9-1, 7-0) saw its hopes for a perfect 10-0 season dashed by Gaston (7-3) 34-32.

“We never gave up,” Cedar Bluff Coach Steve Smith said. “We played hard. They just made one more play than we did.”

The game started on an ominous note for the Tigers. Gaston won the toss and deferred, but the Bulldog defense didn’t have to take the field on the first series. W. Majors recovered the opening kickoff for Gaston, which put the ball in the end zone on four plays covering only 18 yards. Ben Porter went in from the two with 10:27 left in the first quarter, but the conversion kick was blocked.

Cedar Bluff was looking at a 12-0 deficit after Gaston went 88 yards on five plays on its next series, with Porter again scoring from the one with 4:39 on the first-quarter clock. A fumble on the conversion attempt was recovered by Cedar Bluff’s Josh Hampton.

The Tiger offense got going on the ensuing series, traveling 58 yards on five plays. Cole Peace passed the final 12 yards to Matt Wilson for the score, and Adam Weaver’s kick made it 12-7 with 2:04 to go in the first stanza.

A fourth-and-three on their own 40 was stopped on Cedar Bluff’s next drive, which put Gaston on a six-play, 40-yard march, culminating on a third-and-eight pass from the 26 from Jeremiah Hester to Dan Sims for the score with 6:14 remaining in the half. Hester kept for the two-point conversion and a 20-7 Bulldog lead.

A Peace-to-Moten pass from the seven completed Cedar Bluff’s seven-play, 64-yard drive, but the conversion kick went straight up in the air, short of the goal. Gaston led 20-13 with 2:11 on the clock.

The half ended with Cedar Bluff getting one more shot in the final 5.6 seconds, but the Tigers couldn’t connect on the pass play.

The second half began on the same order as the opening kickoff, with Jonathan Sneed recovering the kickoff for Cedar Bluff on the 36. Peace kept on the fifth play from the one for the score, and Weaver’s kick tied the game at 20-20 with 9:36 on the clock.

On the ensuing kickoff, Chris Beck recovered for Cedar Bluff on the Gaston 36.

Four plays later, the Tigers fumbled away the ball on the Gaston five. On the Bulldogs’ first play, Porter outran the Cedar Bluff defense 95 yards to score with 7:57 showing. Hester’s kick made it 27-20.

The second play of Cedar Bluff’s next series, an eight-yard pass, gave Moten the needed yardage to surpass Nick Threlkeld’s state record of 6,004 career yards. It was his eighth reception of the game, giving him 93 receiving yards for the night.

But Cedar Bluff was forced to punt away the ball, setting Gaston on a nine-play, 72-yard drive with Hester connecting with Majors on a 33-yard scoring strike on third and 10. Hester made it 34-30 with 1:12 left in the third on his kick.

Cedar Bluff responded with a seven-play, 65-yard drive. Mark Clifton got the call from the 18 for the score with 10:45 remaining. The run failed and Gaston held a 34-26 lead.

A 26-yard Gaston field goal attempt was blocked by Chad Pettyjohn, but it was three downs and a punt for the Tigers.

The Bulldogs turned the ball over on downs at the Tiger 21, but got it back seven plays later on a Kerry Majors interception with 1:04 left.

Cedar Bluff managed to force a fumble on the second play, with Kevin Chesnut making the recovery on the 20. After two incomplete passes, Peace covered the 20 yards on an aerial to Wilson, but the run for two and the tie game came up short.

This time, Gaston was able to recover the onsides kick and hold the ball for the final 38.4 seconds.

Smith said the Tigers didn’t alter their game plan to accommodate Moten’s record. “Our game plan is to win football games,” he said. “We just didn’t execute well early. Gaston came to play; they deserved to win the game.

“We gave ourselves the opportunity to win; that’s all you can ask for.

“Gaston, number one, is a fine football team. They’ve got a lot of weapons.

“We never led; we tried to play catch-up the whole night.”

Smith said the players took Moten’s record in stride. “It’s got more to do with the way Josh handles himself,” Smith said. “We all knew it was there, but our number one goal is to win ball games. We’ve all got to be extremely thrilled; he’s the epitome of a team player. It embarrassed him when we stopped the game. He just wants to play the game. It’s great recognition for our school.”

Moten finished with nine receptions for 109 yards as Peace completed 18 of 31 for 235 yards. Adam Wickham was on the receiving end of three for 58 yards, while Wilson caught four for 47 yards. The Tigers added 172 rushing yards, led by Clifton with 94 yards on 12 carries.

Gaston had 312 rushing yards and 161 passing yards. Porter was the big gainer with 185 yards on 13 carries