Sabine upsets Troup!

Photo by John Niesner THAT-A-BOY — Sabine High School head coach Jerry Baker (left) congratulates lineman Logan Edmondson as Edmondson comes off the field after recovering a fumble for a touchdown. The Cardinals outlasted Troup, 13-12, on Friday night for their first win of the season, and the first win for Baker as Sabine's head coach. LIBERTY CITY — The Troup Tigers had the ball on the Sabine 10-yard-line, trailing by just one point, with just seven seconds to play.

Then, the Cardinals' Taylor Gray jumped into the air and intercepted a Ryan Nichols pass in the end zone as time expired to preserve a hard-fought 13-12 victory for Sabine. The game was a tight defensive struggle throughout, in which the visiting Tigers fumbled the ball six times, losing four of them to the aggressive Sabine defense.

The win marks the first for the Cardinals in the Jerry Baker era. Sabine is 1-1 on the season, has an open date this Friday, and plays at Beckville Sept. 19.

Jacob Kenna fielded the opening kickoff at his own 10 and raced 18 yards, fumbled the ball, and fell on top of it at the Cardinals' 38. Sabine mounted a nice opening drive, led by the running of junior tailback Bernard Alexander and Kenna, who caught the Tigers napping on a few occasions, picking up good chunks of yardage on the ground. However, the drive stalled as a result of two Cardinal illegal procedure penalties, and Sabine's Lie'Quan Byrd would have to punt the ball away on a fourth-and-16 from the 50. Alexander finished the game with 37 yards on 13 carries.

The Troup offense would fair no better on their opening drive, or in the entire first half for that matter, as the Tigers went three-and-out on their first possession.

The Sabine defense looked exceptional throughout the first half, led by Byrd and also defensive end Logan Edmondson, a junior. Late in the first quarter, the Cardinals defensive highlights continued when Chris Lumpkin recovered a Cody Lepelley fumble at the Tigers' 46. The turnover would lead to a 42-yard field goal attempt by Gray. However, the scoring opportunity was nullified when Gray's kick was blocked and recovered by the Tigers' Derrik Thompson. The quarter came to an end in a scoreless tie.

Sabine's defense would put the first points on the board when Edmondson recovered a Derrik Thompson fumble at the Troup 14 and raced into the end zone for the score. Gray's extra point was wide right and the Cardinals led 6-0 with 6:03 left in the first half. Edmondson also recorded six solo tackles on the night.

Troup came out of the locker room after halftime with a vengeance, marching down the field and scoring quickly in eight plays, covering 62 yards. Lepelley barrelled around the right side for the Tigers' first touchdown of the game with 8:08 left in the third quarter.

Troup would score again just four minutes later when sophomore defensive back Keandre Davis intercepted a Byrd pass and returned the ball 41 yards for another Tigers' touchdown. Nichols' pass intended for Thompson fell short on the conversion attempt and Troup led 12-6 with 4:10 to play in the third.

Needing to shift the momentum back in their favor, Sabine would mount a long drive late in the quarter. Facing a crucial third-and-12 from the Troup 32, Kenna dropped back and found Laramy Barber open across the middle for a 27-yard strike down to the 5. Barber's reception set up the Cardinals with a first-and-goal, and two plays later, Kenna dove into the end zone from 1 yard out. Gray's extra point split the uprights, giving Sabine a 13- 12 lead with five seconds left in the third quarter.

Some late game drama developed as the Cardinal defense had to step up several times in the fourth quarter and stop the Tigers short of the end zone on more than one occasion.

The most important stop came with the game on the line, and Troup knocking at the door with under a minute to play and no timeouts.

Already in Cardinal territory, Nichols found Jeremy Richardson open across the middle for a 32- yard pass on third-and-18 before he was tackled by Byrd, setting up the Tigers with a first-and-10 from the Cardinals' 10, with just seven seconds to play. Nichols had to hurry to the line of scrimmage and spike the ball to stop the clock on first down.

On second and 10, Nichols' pass intended for Thompson was intercepted by Gray as time expired and the celebration was on for Sabine, winners of just three games in three seasons, but have won two of their last three dating back to 2007.

The dramatic ending was strikingly similar to a game played in 2000 on the same field, and by the same two teams. The Cardinals won that game by the same exact score and needed a last second interception by Jason Jisha to win that game.