FLORENCE — The McComb Tigers ran through the Florence Eagles in the second half, and a missed 32-yard field goal made the difference in the final minute.
The Tigers ran for 332 yards and came back from a 21-9 halftime deficit to win 23-21 on the road Friday.
The win will give the Tigers the No. 3 seed in District 6-4A if McComb wins its homecoming game against Forest Hill this week.
With a 23-21 lead, the Tigers gave the Eagles a first-and-goal on the 3 on an offside penalty.
Florence’s quarterback, Hunter Thompson, didn’t go anywhere on first, and Eagle running back Justin Mayers lost yards on second.
With 1:41 left, Florence went to the air trying to take back the lead. Thompson floated the ball into the corner of the end zone, but the receiver was well covered. McComb’s corner turned and went up for the ball, but was grabbed by the receiver.
The Eagles were called for offensive pass interference, lost 10 yards and the down. “That’s as good as we’ve played here in a while,” McComb head coach Randy Martin said.
“The guys determined to not let them in the end zone.”
Facing fourth-and-goal from the 15, Florence lined up to go for it before calling timeout and sending out the field goal unit.
Bradley Singleton’s kick knuckled into the air, never getting above the crossbar and landing 2 yards deep in the end zone before skidding out the back.
After one first down, the Tigers knelt twice to finish off the game.
The failed field goal finished a scoreless second half by the Eagles. Florence’s offense had been able to move the ball during the first, but the Tigers intercepted a ball on the first possession of the second half and held Florence to three punts.
The Eagles, meanwhile, weren’t able to contain McComb’s running attack. Coming out of halftime, McComb needed only 1:35 to score on four plays.
After the first went for no gain, Justin Powell ran for 11 yards, Demarcus Butler for 9 and Mario Smith cut up the seam for a 34-yard touchdown that closed the gap to 21-17 after Butler’s two-point conversion.
Butler finished the game with 118 yards on 15 carries, and he fought for every one of the yards he gained. In the fourth, the Eagles didn’t stop him until he had first picked up at least 8 yards.
“Butler ran the ball hard,” Martin said. “I thought he was maybe wearing down late, but he kept breaking tackles and carrying people. I guess those were just his guts coming through.”
The Tigers were pinned inside their 10-yard line the next two times they had the ball, but quarterback Anthony Daniels turned the field position into McComb’s favor with a 39-yard scamper on third-and-3 from the 9-yard line.
The Tigers were able to force a punt on Florence’s next possession, and Bobby Felder returned it for a touchdown, but a holding call on the opposite side of the field from the return brought it all the way back and McComb started from its 8.
The score was the third touchdown called back this season for the Tigers; another was whistled dead prematurely. McComb responded well after the flag.
“We had a chance to lose our focus,” Martin said. “The sideline reacted very well and the stands were clapping for the kids — things just turned for us.”
It didn’t take long for the Eagles to feel like they had lost control — the first six plays went for 8 yards or more — but a rush for no-gain and an incompletion put the Tigers in third-and-long.
Anthony Daniels dropped back to pass, but Florence had everyone covered — except Daniels.
He scrambled up the middle and ran 29 yards to the end zone to take the first lead of the game for the Tigers, 23-21.
Daniels’ 29-yarder was the Tigers shortest touchdown run of the night. Smith scored on a 34-yarder and Justin Powell broke free for a 42-yarder in the first quarter.
Smith and Powell got behind the defense pretty quick with a cut and then straight speed, but Daniels had to weave his way through the Eagles’ defense to score the winning touchdown.
“The offensive line stood up this week,” Martin said. “Last week was a down week, but they blocked a lot better tonight.”
Florence had jumped out to a 14-3 lead after two quick drives had left the Tigers out of sorts. An Eagle onside kick woke up McComb.
“It was almost scripted,” Martin said of the kick. “We were expecting it, and we had a guy in position to make the play.”
With a short field, the Tigers only needed two plays to tighten the game up again. Powell took the handoff coming from the wing, cut right through the middle of the line and out-raced the safeties to the end zone.
The next Eagle possession ended in a fumble on a botched handoff, but McComb turned the ball back over after driving into the red zone.
Florence added its final score with less than two minutes left in the half.
Thompson rolled to his right from the 8-yard line and lofted a pass back across his body to the middle of the field. Two Tigers were waiting in front of receiver Nathan Ward. Both tipped it, and Ward dove and caught it for his second score of the night.
