Arlington Lamar doomed late by OT rules. SGP wins, clinches berth, Lamar eliminated
Arlington Lamar came into Thursday night’s regular season finale against South Grand Prairie, needing to do enough on its end and get some help from neighboring school Arlington.
Lamar kicker Blake Ford nailed a 45-yard field goal as time expired to force overtime, but SGP went on to defeat the Vikings, 12-10, in triple overtime in District 8-6A at Cravens Field.
SGP (7-3, 4-2) clinches a playoff berth and third in the district standings. The Warriors will begin next week’s playoffs on the road as the No. 2 seed in Division 1.
The loss eliminated Lamar (2-8, 2-4) from the playoffs. Arlington routed Arlington Bowie on Thursday to clinch the final berth. Martin and SGP will be D1 while Grand Prairie and Arlington will be D2.
Entering the game, Lamar needed to beat SGP by at least seven to have a chance at a playoff spot. A 7-point win and Arlington win would have forced a three-way tie for two spots. An 8-point win would have clinched a spot for the Vikings while a win by fewer than seven points would have eliminated them.
SGP also got the win with Laban DeLay as its head coach.
DeLay returned to SGP earlier this year after spending the past six seasons with Lamar.
After Ford’s game-tying field goal, Lamar would have liked to win the coin toss in overtime to begin on offense, which would’ve given the Vikings their best chance at a 7- or 8-point win.
Going second on offense with a touchdown would’ve finished the game with no extra point attempt and 6-point win. However, SGP started on offense and the Vikings defense held them scoreless.
Now Lamar had the ball, but couldn’t score because the Vikings could only win by six if the game ended that way. Lamar didn’t score as the game went to a second OT.
The Vikings’ offense never reached the 10 in their second overtime, giving the ball back to the Warriors, but SGP fumbled during its possession and Lamar recovered sending the game into a third extra frame.
However, with new rules in the third OT, each offense only has one play to score from the 3-yard line worth two points, solidifying SGP’s spot in the postseason...even though the press box knew, and perhaps most in the stands didn’t.
The first half went by quickly...in less than an hour.
Lamar took the first play from scrimmage 27 yards on a Laron Hulet to the SGP 43, but the offense stalled shortly after as the Warriors defense held the Vikings on a fourth-and-2 to take over downs.
SGP then took the ensuing drive from its 21 to the Lamar 8 before settling for a Nathaniel Espinosa 25-yard field goal. The drive lasted nine plays and over six minutes long.
The Warriors took a 3-0 lead with 3:39 left in the first quarter.
The Vikings countered with their own long drive on the next possession, going 71 yards on 15 plays capped off with a 1-yard touchdown run from Javion Green to give them a 7-3 lead with 9:01 left in the second quarter.
Lamar, which took that lead into intermission, picked up five first downs on that drive and converted two third downs. The Vikings had four plays of 10 or more yards, including a Jaden Morris 12-yard pass to Darrick Bledsoe to the 1.
Both offenses stalled to end the first half, but Lamar did drive just before the break.
Lamar drove from its own 12 to the SGP 21 on the spark of four Morris to Jaylon McCoy connections, but with two seconds left, the Vikings missed a 38-yard field goal as time expired.
After a scoreless third quarter, SGP regained the lead two plays into the fourth quarter. The Warriors got down to the Lamar 1 and following a timeout, Jaden Stanley got into the end zone on the wildcat formation for a 10-7 lead. Stanley also scored on the game-sealing two-point try.
Lamar out-gained SGP in total yards, but the Vikings turned the ball over twice with two fumbles and two interceptions while the Warriors had no turnovers.
This story was originally published November 4, 2021 at 10:08 PM.
