Bob Jones season ends by one point
Roderick Randolph catches a pass for a touchdown for Bob Jones. (Record photo/Anna Durrett)
Bob Jones head coach Kevin Rose expected a close, hard fought game against Mountain Brook in the second round of the playoffs.
What he did not count on was coming out on the short end of a 14-13 game that was not decided until a 32-yard field goal attempt by David Mitchell sailed wide right with 47 seconds left.
“I was very confident that he was going to make it and we were going to win,” Rose said after the game. “It just went right. That’s the breaks. He’s a good kicker and he has done a great job all year.”
The loss marks the third time in his four years at Bob Jones that the Patriots have exited in the second round. Bob Jones finishes 8-4. Mountain Brook goes to 11-1.
“This team, as far as their potential, achieved more than any team we’ve ever had here,” Rose said. “We won the fourth straight region championship and came within one point of going to the third round of the playoffs.”
Mountain Brook appeared to have the game well in hand with a 14-0 lead and driving in the third quarter. But Mountain Brook sophomore quarterback Jacob Carroll threw two interceptions, both to Dustin Haraway, to give the Patriots a chance at a comeback win.
“They did exactly what we expected,” Rose said. “The defense did a great job of stopping them. Offensively, we struggled early but came back big in the second half and had a chance to win.”
Before the game started, the clock and scoreboard blew a fuse and was inoperable the whole game. So was the play clock.
After a scoreless first quarter, Mountain Brook pinned Bob Jones at the one-yard line and a short punt gave the Spartans the ball at the 24 yard line. Five plays later, Gene Bromberg went in for a touchdown from a yard out. It was 7-0 at the half as Bob Jones had mustered only about 50 yards of offense.
Mountain Brook went up 14-0 in the third quarter on a 31-yard pass from Carroll to Patrick Sullivan.
Dustin Haraway jumped a sideline pass play for his first interception and returned it to the 12-yard line. Seth Parker hit Roderick Randolph on a seven-yard touchdown pass to get Bob Jones on the scoreboard.
With Mountain Brook driving, Haraway struck again intercepting a pass thrown right to him and returned it to the 45-yard line. With the running game going nowhere, Trey Bates dialed Randolph’s number and they connected on a 27-yard touchdown pass but the extra point was low and hit the cross bar.
Bob Jones got the ball back with 1:47 left at their 45 yard line. Bates hit Randolph for a 25-yard gain to the 19-yard line. Three runs netted four yards and the stage was set for a winning field goal by junior David Mitchell. But in the biggest moment of the season the kick waffled to the right in a line drive.
Bates, one of 34 seniors, finished his career with one of his best performances as he connected on 13 of 28 passes for 120 yards.
“We believed we would win right up to the last play,” said Bates who threw his tenth touchdown pass of the season in his final game.
“In practice we kick those all the time, Mitchell is a great kicker. I’m not sure what happened but it’s not just on him. It’s the whole team. I missed a couple of throws I should have made. It’s a team effort and we lost the game,” said Bates who waited two years as a backup and earned the starting job this season.
