Pineville outlasts Peabody in wild shootout, 63-58

A high-scoring affair which lasted for over three hours in a regulation game Friday night ended with a familiar basketball score for Peabody fans. But the Warhorses on the gridiron fell to Pineville, 63-58.

The third quarter did not end well for the Warhorses in the shootout with the Rebels. Senior quarterback Talon Bowens threw an interception to Pineville senior linebacker Chris Hall who returned it for a touchdown to give the Rebels a 45-37 lead heading into the last quarter of play.

Peabody didn’t wait very long to answer with junior Jordan Gaston punching it in on a 42-yard run. The tying two point conversion attempt was no good to cut the Pineville lead to 45-43 with 10:14 left in the game.

Pineville answered back on a 5-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Cam Bates to senior receiver John Joseph. The extra point by Parker Lee extended the Rebel lead to 52-43 with 6:04 left.

The next Rebel drive ended in disaster after a Pineville fumble was recovered in the endzone for a Warhorse safety to cut the Rebel lead to 52-45.

Peabody would get the ball back after the safety and capitalize when Bowens hit sophomore Jaylen Price on a 9-yard touchdown pass. The two point conversion run by freshman Kevin Hammond gave Peabody the 53-52 lead with just 1:35 left in the ball game.

With the game on the line, Cam Bates showed his poise by connecting with junior Jacob Sylvia in the back of the end zone from 18-yards out for what would be the game-winning touchdown.

NOTABLE

Pineville had 305 yards of offense on 64 plays. Peabody had 529 yards of offense on only three more plays than Pineville.

Peabody held Pineville to only 48 rushing yards in the contest.

Peabody averaged 7.9 yards per carry compared to only 1.8 per carry for Pineville.

The two teams combined for 28 penalties for 210 penalty yards.

Peabody won the possession game, holding the ball for 30 out of 48 minutes of play.

Peabody had two PAT’s and 4 two-point conversions fail on the night. Successful conversions of those would have given Peabody a victory.

SCORELINE

Team        1       2       3       4   —    F

Pineville    21     10     14     13 —    58

Peabody   12     12     13     16  —   53

TOP PERFORMERS

Pineville

Cameron Bates (20/38, 257 yards, 4 TD, 2 INT)

John Joseph (10 catches, 140 yards, 2 TD/3 carries, 24 yards/1 90-yard kickoff return TD)

Peabody

Talon Bowens (8/19, 258 yards, 3 TD, 2 INT/14 carries, 52 yards, 1 TD/1 defensive INT)

Tyler Clark (18 carries, 86 yards, 2 TD/1 catch, 20 yards)

Jordan Gaston (9 carries, 75 yards, 1 TD)

Thomas Miles (5 catches, 208 yards, 2 TD/5.5 tackles/6 kick returns for 109 yards)

THEY SAID IT

Pineville head coach Dennis Dunn

“We tried to give the game away but every phase of the game was involved in the win. We had special teams and defensive touchdowns. That last two-minute drive at the end was huge. The defense stepped up when we needed them to. Whatever you want to call it, I call it a team victory and we will take it.”

Pineville receiver John Joseph

“We got to play against these guys in 7-on-7 over the summer and it was just as tough then. We have been taught to fight to the very end and that’s what we did. We fought to the end.”

Peabody head coach Benny Vault

“We fought hard in this one. One thing I ask as a coach is that my guys never give up and they didn’t in this game. Special teams needs a lot of work but overall I think we are better team than we were last week. We have a lot of young guys and they played well and I am proud of them. Coach Dunn has an exceptional coaching background so we expected them to be better than they were in the past and they were.”