Heritage fails to finish at rival Brookville

Brookville football coach Jeff Woody has experienced his share of sleepless nights since his wife, Celeste, gave birth to the couple’s first child, Rowen, on Monday.

He could sleep peacefully Friday night after the Bees (6-1, 2-1 Seminole District) overcame a 7-0 halftime deficit and held off Heritage, 14-13, stopping the Pioneers’ two-point conversion attempt in the final 40 seconds.

For the second straight game, Heritage (1-5, 0-2) watched potential game-winning heroics turn into heartbreak with a last-minute loss on the road.

Two weeks ago at Harrisonburg, the Pioneers trailed 28-27 and went for the winning field goal, only to have it blocked and returned for a touchdown in a 34-27 defeat.

Friday night’s defeat, against its Timberlake Road rival, was even more crushing, considering the circumstances.

Heritage capitalized on a fumble in the backfield by Bees converted quarterback Deshon Foxx, driving 38 yards on eight plays for what would have been the tying 1-yard touchdown by Tysheem Saunders (24 carries, 94 yards). But instead of forcing overtime with an extra-point kick, the Pioneers went for the go-ahead two-point conversion and a fumbled exchange — their third of the game — on a trick play left them high and dry.

“That was a scary one, but the defense stepped up,” said Foxx, who had relieved freshman quarterback Kendall Becraft, making his first start in place of Alec Thompson, and scored the go-ahead touchdown on a three-yard third-quarter run.

On the final two-point conversion attempt, Heritage quarterback Lakuan McPhaul handed off to Saunders on a sweep to the left, but with the Bees pursuing the play, he tried to hand it off to Rondell Hamlett on a designed reverse halfback option. Hamlett never got the ball or had a chance to throw it to a wide-open receiver in the right side of the end zone.

“That would have won it,” said Heritage first-year coach Doug Smith, who opted to go for the win rather than the tie. “Defensively, we were a little tired, offensively, we were a little tired and if we could win it right now, we’d have a better chance than trying to tie it and go into overtime. I wanted so bad for them to feel that win right now.”

The Pioneers hadn’t fumbled at all in their two previous games, including a 13-7 triumph over Halifax. But they hurt themselves twice against the Bees, with Hamlett mishandling a lateral pass from McPhaul in his own end zone early in the second half before falling on it for a costly safety, cutting their lead to 7-2.

Heritage had held Brookville to 30 yards of total offense in the first half, the same distance Sylvon Jones returned his interception of Becraft for the game’s first touchdown a minute before halftime. The Pioneers dominated time of possession, running 37 plays to the Bees’ 14 and picking up eight first downs while allowing just one, on Becraft’s second completion.

His fourth, on his second and final attempt of the second half, resulted in the first touchdown pass in Becraft’s career. And it came in dramatic fashion, on a 31-yard strike to Lorenzo Smith over the middle of the field, facing fourth-and-21 with 16 seconds left in the third quarter.

“This was his first week up on varsity,” Woody said of Becraft. “He’s a great athlete and we plan on him being the quarterback of the future. The sky’s the limit for him.”

Becraft started slowly, completing only 3 of 11 passes in the first half, leading Woody and his staff to go with Foxx out of a spread formation to start the second.

“Foxx is a great athlete,” Woody said, noting he now has played everywhere from tailback to receiver to quarterback since returning from a pre-season injury. “We changed some things up after the Liberty game, hoping to get a spark on offense, and I think we found it.”

Foxx had a dazzling 34-yard touchdown run called back by a holding penalty four plays prior to Smith’s fourth-down TD catch, but was relieved the Bees emerged victorious heading into next week's showdown at Seminole favorite Amherst.

“I’m super happy to come away with this win,” he said. “I’m gracious.”

Heritage didn't take any consolation in playing the defending district champion Bees to a one-point loss at Stinger Stadium.

“We don’t take moral victories," said McPhaul, who replaced O'Shawn Bryant at quarterback after he suffered a season-ending injury in the Pioneers' first scrimmage at GW-Danville. "We had our mind set that we were going to fight to the end. We were going to fight for everything. We just came up short."

The Pioneers were left to look forward to their annual showdown with Lynchburg rival and fellow one-game winner E.C. Glass.

"We’ve just got to continue to get better each week and look forward to the next game because we can’t control the past," McPhaul said.