Credit: Craig Sager
Credit: Craig Sager
Grady junior Kemari Averett used his 6-foot-7 frame to intercept Redan at the goal line to secure a thrilling and physical 12-6 victory at Avondale Stadium Saturday night. A scoreless second half saw Grady in control, despite Redan hitting big completions to wide receiver Ririce Cramer and threatening to take the lead with a touchdown. Grady’s defense swarmed Redan’s sophomore quarterback Xavier Dennis all night and the Bulldogs were willing to punt the ball away with 2:20 left in the game and let the defense close it out. The snap, however, sailed over the punter’s head and Redan downed the ball at the Grady 17-yard line with 2:16 left to play.
On the next snap, Redan handed the ball off to Rodnell Mccree, who was met hard by Grady's Chavis Merritt after a short gain. Merrit was flagged for targeting on the hit and Redan got a fresh set of downs at the 7-yard line. The Raiders committed what looked to be another costly false start on the next play that backed them up to the 12-yard line, but they got the yardage back with a completion from Dennis to Demarco Poole for a 9-yard gain. Redan head coach Roderick Moore was managing the clock to make sure that as little time as possible was left on the clock for Grady.
After a Redan timeout right before the play clock ran out, Averett penetrated the Redan backfield and came up with a huge tackle for loss on third down that pushed the Raiders back to the 5-yard line with the game-deciding fourth-down play coming up. With 16.9 second left on the clock, Averett leapt above the line of scrimmage and intercepted Dennis to seal the game.
Grady’s first points of the night came with 2:29 left in the first quarter with a safety and the offense used the extra possession to punch in a Craig Philpot 6-yard touchdown to make it a 9-0 lead. Grady extended the advantage to 12-0 two minutes into the second quarter with a 32-yard field goal, but Redan’s Cori Pritchett returned the ensuing kickoff deep into Grady territory and set up the Raiders’ lone score. Cramer made an incredible catch while in stride on a deep fade route to the back corner of the endzone, but the Raiders missed the PAT and the deficit remained 12-6.
Redan’s Darryl Moody looked to have a 100-yard interception return for a touchdown late in the first half, but the return was brought back to midfield with an illegal block.
Redan drops to 2-1 but can win its third game of the season for the first time since 2011 against Columbia on Friday. Grady (2-1) faces Lithonia (2-1) at home this Friday in its next Region 6-AAAA battle.
Here is a look at Averett leading Grady's game-winning defensive stand and the targeting call that put Redan at the Grady 7-yard line.
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