JACKSON — One inch will haunt the Aberdeen High School for a long time.
There were plenty of things — two fumbles, an interception, dropped passes — that didn”t go Aberdeen”s way Saturday through three quarters of the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 3A title game against Forest.
But there the Bulldogs were in the fourth quarter after an improbable fumble recovery and return for a touchdown, holding the momentum and driving.
If you”re an Aberdeen fan, you had to think one more play, that”s all we need to realize our dream of winning the state championship.
Those title wishes went unfulfilled.
Victor Hodges lost a couple of inches on a pivotal fourth-and-inches with about seven minutes remaining that allowed Forest to hang on and run out the clock for a 10-8 victory at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium.
“I definitely think we got the yards,” Hodges said. “We got a bad spot, but that is football.”
The championship was the fourth for Forest (15-1), and its first since 1999, while Aberdeen (14-2) lost in the Class 3A title game for the second consecutive season. Tylertown beat Aberdeen 34-20 in the 2009 game.
On Saturday, Aberdeen won the battle of total yards (275-124) and had 12 first downs to Forest”s seven. The Bulldogs also controlled the clock, holding the ball for 27 minutes, 31 seconds to 20:29 for the Bearcats.
But Forest capitalized on the all-important turnover factor (two fumbles lost by Aberdeen and an interception by the Bulldogs) and scored all of its points in the first quarter. It then bent and bent and then delivered drive-stopping defensive plays to maintain its advantage.
“It was huge, huge, huge,” Forest coach Jud Boswell said of the fourth-down stop. “It was the play of the game and the play of the year.”
Aberdeen started from its 9-yard line on its next to last drive with 11:39 to go. The Bulldogs used a 10-yard run by Hodges (31 carries, 134 yards), a 16-yard pass from Desmond Jones to Michael Hodges, and a 15-yard run by Channing Ward to take control at the Forest 39. Hodges came up inches short on a third-and-2 from the Forest 31 with 7:16 remaining to set the stage for what proved to be the play of the game. Hodges tried to go left on fourth down, but Forest, like it did all game, forced penetration up front and tripped Hodges up. Hodges and senior running back Brandon Smith still thought the Bulldogs had done enough to move the chains, only to see the official”s mark prove them wrong.
“He did get the yardage,” Smith said. “They moved the ball back. … That is how the cookie crumbles. I guess it wasn”t our time to win it.”
Aberdeen coach Chris Duncan also thought Hodges earned the first down, but he said his opinion didn”t matter because the official”s spot was the one that counted.
“All day long we got whupped up front,” Duncan said. “We were going to run quarterback sneak, but we were getting knocked in the backfield two or three deep every time by those guys inside, so you don”t think you can get two inches. We thought they would pack it inside, and they did. If (Hodges) got it by that we had the edge and we have several more yards, and we just didn”t get there.”
Boswell said his team, which entered the game with nine shutouts, prepared for Aberdeen”s quickness by moving laterally to shut down the Bulldogs” tendency to stretch running plays to the edges. The Bearcats countered the Bulldogs” ability to break big plays by busting plays with penetration into the backfield.
“We worked it all week,” Boswell said. “The guys bought into it and paid attention every second of the day.”
Aberdeen”s defense responded. Senior safety Ramontez Hodges broke up a pass on third down to force the Bearcats to punt. But Forest”s defense also was up to the challenge. Terrance Shepard and Quillian Jones sacked quarterback Desmond Jones on third-and-4 for a 10-yard loss from the Aberdeen 26.
The Bulldogs didn”t get the ball back.
Quarterback Matthew Evans completed a third-down pass to Jones for an initial first down. An offsides penalty and a 3-yard run by Jones for a first down enabled the Bearcats to savor their title.
Meanwhile, Aberdeen was left to wonder what could have been. An 81-yard run by Jalen Devauld after a fumble by Hodges provided the spark Aberdeen needed in the third quarter.
The only problem was the spark never grew into an inferno.
“If we had got that 1 yard, it would have been a big difference,” Smith said. “When they told us it was a turnover on downs, that changed the momentum, but the defense, we stepped up except for one play, a missed assignment.”
Said Devauld, “We just needed one more (play). Their defense was pretty good, though. Their defensive line got a lot of penetration and we couldn”t run the ball like we were used to.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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