LAKELAND — Lake Gibson was up two scores going into the fourth quarter and appeared to be in control of its game against district rival Bartow. Bartow, however, wasn’t ready to concede anything.
Bartow quarterback Amire Hall rallied his team with two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter before throwing the game-winner to his brother Moscow Shaw in overtime that lifted the Yellow Jackets to a 27-24 victory on Friday night at Virgil Ramage Stadium.
Lake Gibson had the ball first in overtime and was forced to kick a go-ahead field goal after stalling at the 5-yard line. Bartow had moved to the 8-yard line on first down then Hall was nearly intercepted in the end zone on second down. On third down, Hall scrambled to his left, reversed field then saw Shaw on the far right in the end zone or the winning score.
“Proud is definitely an understatement,” Bartow coach Grady Morrell said. “This group is very, very resilient. We don’t get a ton of love given our record (3-7) last year, given what we’ve we’ve done up until this point. So we kind of got to go out every single game and earn our respect. When you get in games like this, you revert back to what got you to that point, summer workouts, those extra sprints, that extra, extra work in the weight room, staying after practice, extra throws, all those things right there come into play when you get. into a situation like this. Then more than anything, staying together, being a family, believing in one another that you can win that football game. right there at the end.”
The victory keeps Bartow (5-2, 2-1) tied with Sebring (4-3, 2-1) for second place behind Lakeland in Class 5A, District 6. The Yellow Jackets play Lakeland next week.
Bartow turns it up in fourth quarter, OT
Bartow’s offense was kept under control by Lake Gibson through three quarter as the Yellow Jackets managed just one touchdown and 77 yards of offense, including just 30 yard passing.
The fourth quarter and OT was different. Hall, who was just 2 of 6 for 30 yards through three quarters, completed 5 of 10 passes for 153 and three touchdows the rest of the way.
Bartow rushed for just 99 yards for the game, but 47 yards came in fourth quarter and OT.
Big plays were the difference
Bartow didn’t exactly march methodically down the field for its two-fourth quarter touchdowns. Its first score of the fourth quarter was an eight-play, 88-yard score. However, Lake Gibson had 20 yards in penalties and 48 yards came on a pass to Shaw.
Hall’s 13-yard strike to Marvis Anderson Jr. made the score 21-14, at 7:38 of the fourth quarter. The game-tying drive was a 3-play, 79-yard drive with Hall finding Shaw for a 78-yard touchdown pass.
McFarlane to Bell sparked Lake Gibson
Lake Gibson quarterback Caleb McFarlane competed 8 of 15 passes for 180 yards and three touchdown. The first two TD passes were to Stephen Bell. The first was a 12-yard scoring strike in the first quarter and the second went for 68 yards that gave Lake Gibson a 14-7 halftime lead.
McFarlane’s 36-yard touchdown pass to Lawrence Silas put the Braves up 21-7 on the final play of the third quarter.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Bartow stuns Lake Gibson in OT; here’s how it happened
