How Statesboro pulled off its crafty last-minute scoring to defeat Evans

Today’s Four Questions interviewee is Statesboro head coach Matt Dobson, whose Blue Devils defeated Evans 36-35 with a final-minute hook-and-ladder play on second down from the Evans 47. Junior quarterback Beckham Jarrard threw the ball to sophomore Todd Easter, who then tossed it to senior running back MJ Kimble who ran it in for the score. Rather than kick the extra point to tie it up and likely send the game to overtime, Statesboro converted a two-point attempt. The Blue Devils, in their fourth year under Dobson, are now 5-3 and 2-3 in Region 1-5A and are on the verge of making the playoffs.

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1. The play of the game was the 47-yard hook-and-ladder. What was the play call there?

“We’ve run that play in years past, and really have not ran it yet this year. We had taken a sack the play before, so we called a timeout. Just the way (Evans) had played the previous couple plays, I thought we had a good chance to be able to throw the little hit route out there and get the pitch off. Their corner was a really good player, and he was really aggressive, and I thought he would drive down on the hits. So I thought if we could throw it and catch it, we could get the pitch off and have a chance to score, and our guys executed it really well. Our running back was our backup running back that was in the game for it. He’s ran it in the past, and so just a great job by our quarterback making a great throw, and then our receiver did a phenomenal job of catching the football first, and then as he’s getting tackled, getting the pitch off to our running back, who was able to catch it in stride and go score. So just phenomenal execution by those guys.”

2. There’s a lot that goes into the play as far as timing and avoiding a fumble. How do y’all practice that play?

“If I’m being honest with you, we really haven’t practiced it in a long time. I was trying to think back if we practiced it. It was back during fall camp, preseason camp time. It’s not really been a part of our game plan the last number of weeks. We always carry a couple of trick plays, but that’s not been one we’ve really had in the game plan. It was just kind of during the timeout we talked through it, and like I said, our quarterback ran it in years past, and then the running back who we pitch the ball to has ran it in years past. It certainly is a play that’s hard to practice, and the looks you get in practice are never the same as what you get in game. Our guys did a good job of just being coachable on the sideline and understanding what we were trying to accomplish.”

3. You score the touchdown and then decide to go for two rather than play for overtime. What went into that decision?

“We had run the ball really well all night, and I thought their defense was a little bit tired. There was an 85-yard drive, and we had thrown the ball quite a bit during that drive. And I thought their defense was just tired. We ran the ball really well, and so we kind of lined up just to see what they were going to align, and we called our last timeout. One of our players who’s been a four-year starter for us, plays tight end for us, he came to the sideline and said, ‘Coach, if we run this play, we’re gonna get it.’ I love when our players have confidence in something we do, and they want to go run a play to go win the football game. And so we went with the call that Davis Harrison (called). We trusted our players, and our offensive line did a great job. Our tight ends and all of our backs that were able to play. It was just kind of a single-wing short-yardage package that we have, and did a great job knocking guys off the ball and creating a big hole for our running back. And he did a good job finishing.”