By By Austin BishopThe Meridian Star
October 20, 2001
MADISON Homestanding Madison-Ridgeland Academy scored 22-consecutive second half points to overcome an eight-point deficit and take a 35-28 win over Lamar School Friday night.
MRA used an 80-yard fumble return and a 40-yard pass play to jump out to a 13-0 lead before Lamar scored the last 14 points of the half to hold a 14-13 lead at the break.
After the Raiders stretched that lead to 21-13 midway in the third quarter, the Patriots came back with three touchdowns and a field goal to go up 35-21 in the fourth quarter. Lamar scored a final touchdown in the last minute of the game to cut the final margin to seven points.
The first three Lamar touchdowns all came on pass plays from sophomore quarterback Drew Moffett to Zach Moore. The first was a six-yard pass on fourth down and the second was a 39-yard post pattern with six seconds left in the first half. The third touchdown pass to Moore covered 21 yards and put Lamar up 21-13 with 5:55 left in the third quarter.
But MRA came back three plays later to scored on a 51-yard pass play from Wally Cummins to Phillip Harrison, who played for Academy AA state champion Winston Academy last year. The two-point conversion failed, leaving Lamar with a 21-19 lead.
Six plays later, MRA intercepted a Lamar pass. On the next play, the Patriots took the lead for good on a 19-yard touchdown run by Michael Hulsey.
After a field goal and another MRA touchdown, Lamar rounded out the scoring on a seven-yard pass from Moffett to Monroe Mayfield.
Moffett hit on 20-of-47 passes for 278 yards, while Moore had nine receptions for 165 yards.
The Raiders, now 3-5 on the year, had 381 yards of total offense and 22 first downs, while MRA had 294 yards of total offense but just nine first downs.