Onside kick leads Goshen to victory

Published 10:31 pm Thursday, October 27, 2011

DOTHAN — The Goshen Eagles overcame a slow start to come away with a hard-fought 28-14 win over the Providence Christian School Eagles in a battle of 2A playoff-bound teams at PCS Field Thursday night.

With the win, the Eagles (6-4) snapped a two-game losing streak as they head into next week’s first round matchup in Skipperville against G.W. Long. The homestanding saw a six-game winning streak vanish before a large home crowd.

In the first quarter, PCS enjoyed a 20-3 play advantage as they controlled the ball for nearly 10 minutes. But the Eagles from Goshen recovered a fumble on the opening possession to stay within striking distance. PCS scored on a one-yard run by Spencer Walker on fourth-and-goal to take a 7-0 lead.

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Goshen scored shortly before intermission when senior quarterback Jerome Lawrence completed an eight-year scoring pass to Carlton Bean. The blocked extra point left PCS maintaining a 7-6 lead at intermission.

In the third quarter, Goshen opened things up offensively as Lawrence completed a 19-yard pass to Bean and a 12-yard strike to Brandon Alford. Two plays later, Lawrence sneaked it in from one-yard out and converted on the two-point conversion to give Goshen a 14-7 lead with 7:39 left in the third quarter.

Before Goshen scored the touchdown drive, a PCS player was down for several minutes and had to be carried off on a stretcher. The game was delayed for several minutes.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, junior Kyle Eriksen scored from one-yard out. The successful extra point tied the game at 14-14 with 11:55 remaining in the game.

The play of the game occurred on the ensuing kickoff when Goshen recovered a surprise onside kick. Anthony Rogers picked it up and ran 15 yards to the PCS 44-yard line.

Lawrence put the entire offense on his shoulders running for all 44 yards including another one-yard scoring plunge to give Goshen a 21-14 lead with 9:22 remaining.

PCS appeared it was headed for a potential tying score until Lawrence recovered a fumble after the running back had already earned a first down. Goshen drove the ball 60 yards for the game-clinching score as Lawrence completed a perfectly executed screen pass to Deangelo Orum for a 33-yard touchdown on a 2nd-and-16 play with approximately three minutes left in the game.