DANIELSVILLE, Ga. — Chestatee would like to have its last drive of the game back.
It was a drive that had "game-winning" written all over it after Christian Vargas returned the kickoff to the 40-yard line with 51 seconds to go, but Luke Bornhorst's final pass landed in Madison County's hands to seal the Red Raiders (3-3, 1-2 Region 8-4A) rally win, 24-21, at Red Raider Stadium on Friday.
Before that, though, both squads had opportunities to take over the game, but penalties and turnovers stuffed several drives.
Still, though, the War Eagles (3-4, 1-2 Region 8-4A) had their chances.
Early in the game, the War Eagles grabbed the lead, 7-0, on a 12-yard pass from Bornhorst to Drew Knickle, then on the next series missed a 35-yard field goal to go up, 10-0.
Instead, the Red Raiders' Cooper Brown walked into the endzone to tie the game, 7-7 with 10:24 left in the first half, and later on, in the half, Trey Slayton found an opening for a 56-yard touchdown run to push the Red Raiders ahead, 14-7.
Chestatee, though, settled down and responded with back-to-back touchdowns to take the lead, 21-14. The War Eagles went on a wild 15-play drive that included a called-back touchdown and three third-down conversions before Elijah Pruitt scampered in to tie the game, 14-14, with 4:33 left in the second quarter.
In the second half, after stopping the Red Raiders on their first possession, the War Eagles only needed two plays on their next drive to find paydirt. This time Bornhorst connected with Knickle on a 68-yard strike giving the War Eagles a 21-14 lead.
On Madison County's next possession, the Red Raiders drove it to the Chestatee four-yard line and on the next play, fumbled the ball into the endzone. Chestatee fell on it, which resulted in a touchback, but an upset Madison sideline resulted in several penalties. The flags pushed the ball from the Chestatee 20-yard line to the Madison County 35.
But the War Eagles couldn't covert a 4th down and six on the Madison County 17-yard line.
Later in the fourth quarter, the Red Raiders tied the game on a Camden Smith 37-yard touchdown run with 4:58 to go. Then Chestatee went three and out on its next possession, setting up Madison County's game-winning drive.
Still, though, the War Eagles had a chance to stop the drive. After a penalty took the Red Raiders out of field goal range and facing a 3rd down and long situation, the Red Raiders completed a pass short of the first down. But a Chestatee 15-yard penalty gave the Red Raiders an automatic first down and three plays later, McClure booted a 31-yard field goal for the win.
The loss drops the War Eagles to fifth in the region.
