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closeLUGOFF — When the Chester football team was backed up in the fourth quarter Friday, Tony McNeal led the Cyclones out of the hole.
The Cyclones quarterback led his team on a 17-play, 83-yard drive for the go-ahead score in a 22-19 victory against the Demons at Lugoff-Elgin stadium.
“When you want to win a championship, there’s a bunch of different ways you’re going to do it,” said Chester coach Maurice Flowers. “Every game is not going to be a blowout. You have to be able to come from behind.”
That’s just the way the Cyclones (4-3, 2-0 Region 4-AAA) pulled it out.
Starting the key drive with a little more than four minutes to go and facing a 19-14 deficit, McNeal and the Cyclones faced two third-and-9 situations. McNeal hit Fred Lee for a 10-yard completion on one and connected with Bobby Kelly for 13 yards on the other.
On fourth-and-11 at the Lugoff Elgin 41, McNeal kept the drive alive with a 14-yard pass to Jeremy Hughes that brought the Cyclones to the Demons’ 27.
Three plays later, running back Julius Pendergrass plowed into the end zone from 1 yard out to give Chester a 20-19 lead. McNeal passed to Lee for the two-point conversion to close the scoring.
The Cyclones’ defense stopped Lugoff-Elgin (5-2, 1-1) at midfield to claim the victory.
“We just didn’t make a play and they made the play,” Lugoff-Elgin coach Scott Jones said of Chester’s final drive. “Both teams fought like crazy. That’s the way a championship-type game is supposed to be played.”
McNeal finished the night completing 16-of-33 passes for 165 yards and one interception. He also had five carries for 31 yards.
Chester took advantage early when the Cyclones recovered a Demons fumble at the Lugoff-Elgin 28. Six plays later, K.J. Dixon burst in from 1 yard with 10:20 left in the first quarter.
Lugoff-Elgin responded with its wing-T attack cranking out a 19-play, 65-yard scoring drive that wiped off nearly nine minutes from the clock. Trent Hudson capped it with a 2-yard score with 1:41 left in the first. However, the point-after attempt failed.
Not to be outdone, Chester’s shotgun spread offense, led by McNeal, moved the Cyclones to the 11. But on fourth-and-2, Demons defensive back Julian Baxter intercepted a McNeal pass at the 4 and ran it back 96 yards down the left sideline at the 8:42 mark of the second quarter. The conversion failed, but Lugoff-Elgin took a 12-7 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The Demons used a short Chester punt to set up an eight-play scoring drive capped by Hudson’s 3-yard run at the 3:32 mark of the third. Grayson Quick’s point-after made it 19-7.
Chester responded with a 11-play, 65-yard drive powered with runs from Pendergrass. Pendergrass scored from 1 yard out in the first play of the fourth quarter. The score cut Lugoff-Elgin’s lead to 19-14 and set up the game-winning drive.
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