Eastern Hills and Polytechnic involved in crazy District 4-5A Division II opener. Who won?

To say the District 4-5A Division II opener between Eastern Hills and Polytechnic was a wild one would be an understatement.

By the skin of its collective teeth, Eastern Hills came away with a 44-42 victory over the Parrots at Scarbrough-Handley Field Thursday night.

Polytechnic (2-3, 0-1) scored 13 points in the final 3:57 to nearly overcome a 15-point deficit and tie the game in the final seconds.

Eastern Hills defensive back Elyja Harper played a key role in the Highlanders (3-2, 1-0) getting off to a good start in district play, nabbing a pair of passes in the final minute to help his team preserve the win.

With the Highlanders leading 44-36, Harper intercepted a possible touchdown pass at the two-yard line. But Eastern Hills couldn’t run out the clock and then had a blocked punt returned for a 27-yard score by Omaurion Millsap with 32 seconds remaining that cut the lead to 44-42.

On the two-point conversion attempt, Harper intercepted a pass to keep the Highlanders ahead.

But Polytechnic wasn’t finished.

Millsap recovered the ensuing onside kick giving the Parrots the ball at the Highlanders 45 with 31 seconds to play.

On the second play of the possession, Polytechnic quarterback Ja’von Sewell found Darryl Greer open for a 27-yard gain to the Eastern Hills 14.

The clock stopped with 10 seconds to play after the first down but as Polytechnic attempted to ground the ball to stop the clock the Parrots were penalized for illegal procedure. Since Polytechnic had no timeouts remaining the officials called for a 10-second runoff on the clock which ended the game.

After a back and forth first half that saw each team score, three touchdowns, an interception and field goal gave Polytechnic a 23-22 lead at halftime

An Akeil Smiley interception with 4:56 to play in the first half led to a 31-yard field goal by Antonio Serrano in the final minute of play.

Eastern Hills was able to build a 44-29 fourth-quarter lead behind a 22-6 second-half scoring outburst.

The Highlanders regained the lead 30-23 when Ronveon Johnson scored on a 35-yard run in the third quarter. Polytechnic cut the lead to 30-29 on a 21-yard scoring pass from Sewell to Anthony Phenix.

Eastern Hills quarterback Adama Hudson accounted for the next two scores. First, Hudson scored on a seven-yard run to give the Highlanders a 38-29 lead. Then Hudson hit Amarion Henry for an 11-yard score to put Eastern Hills up 44-29.

Hudson finished with 146 yards passing and two scores. He also carried 13 times for 74 yards and two touchdowns. Gerald Brown carried once for 72 yards and a score. Highlanders’ receiver Enrique Lopez, who caught a 31-yard touchdown pass, grabbed seven passes for 124 yards.

The Parrots were led in rushing by Adam Woods, who carried 22 times for 139 yards and scored on first-quarter runs of 54 and six yards. It was Woods first start at running back.

Sewell completed 13 of 22 passes for 132 yards and pair of touchdowns. Sewell’s last touchdown pass a five-yard strike Trevor Johnson with 3:57 to play in the game got the Parrots to with 44-36.

The Parrots leading receiver was Akeil Smily who caught five passes for 44 yards.