Saints claim wild shootout

Will Smith/The Madison County Herald St. Andrew's Bradford Blackmon (left) and Lee Smith celebrate Friday night following Bradford's 43-yard TD pass to Smith in the second quarter against 6-2A opponent Wesson.

RIDGELAND — In a game filled with special plays like two halfback option passes for touchdowns, it was a play on St. Andrew's special teams that decided Friday night's contest.

Sophomore Charles Woods recovered an errant punt snap in the end zone and senior tailback Bradford Blackmon would score twice afterwards in the Saints' 43-40 win over Wesson before an estimated 1,500 at Roger W. Stribling Field.

St. Andrew's improved to 7-1, 3-0 in Region 6-2A, while the Cobras dropped to 6-2, 2-1.

"This is a huge win. We talked all week about how we could take a step towards the district championship by winning this game," said Blackmon, who threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to senior Lee Smith before halftime. "They came out fired up and had us in the first half, but we came out fired up in the second half and just stuck it to them."

With his two runs of 6 and 31 yards, Blackmon broke a tie with Cleveland's Ken Cox on the state's career TD list. His 95 touchdowns put him fifth, 23 behind Weir's Dicenzo Miller (118).

With just over four minutes left, the Cobras trailed 36-25 but never quit.

On fourth-and-6, coach Tommy Clopton called a reverse option pass that Jamar Sims used to connect with Trey Fischer for a 37-yard touchdown. The two-point conversion made it a three-point game, but Wesson didn't recover the onside kick.

"We blew some opportunities. We get beat by three and had opportunities to score four points and didn't," Clopton said about two missed extra points and a failed two-point conversion in the second quarter. "I'm proud of my guys. They never gave up, no matter what the score was and we still had a chance right there at the very end."

The Saints needed only six plays, capped by Blackmon's 31-yard TD, to seemingly put the game away, but Wesson QB Micah Davis found Sims for a 26-yard TD to get within three with 30 seconds left.

However the onside kick failed again.

"That was an outstanding football game," said Saints coach David Bradberry. "We knew they were explosive, but when they had to, our defense rose up and you couldn't ask for anything more out of them."