CHAPEL HILL TAKES A TUMBLE… | and it’s PT holding the axe; Pirates win, 35-28, Wofford with key pick to end the game

LONGVIEW – For the last five, six years, Kilgore and Chapel Hill have duked it out, back and forth, for supremacy in the East Texas football district locals have affectionately referred to as… “The District of Doom.”

Ominous, isn’t it?

Pine Tree is a relative newcomer in the DOD, better known as District 9-4A, Division II. But the Pirates, they’re not your big brother’s Pirates. The days of falling 63-7 are gone; and the days of beating teams like Chapel Hill, 35-28, are here.

And that’s exactly what happened here at Pirate Stadium Thursday night.

In a game of ultra importance to the playoff race in 9-4A, Pine Tree held on, with Rashaad Wofford intercepting Chapel Hill quarterback Malik Gee in the end zone with 1:22 left, on the game’s final drive, the interception serving as an exclamation point to a win that may be enough to get the Pirates into the 4A-Division I postseason. When Wofford came down in the end zone with the ball, that marked the end of Chapel Hill’s

Pine Tree is 5-3 overall, but that hardly matters. Here’s what does: they’ve only got two games left, at Lindale next Friday, Oct. 31, and at home against currently-winless Palestine on Nov. 7.

In district, coach Jason Bachman’s team is 3-1. With just one with in their last two games, PT locks up a playoff berth, and that’s if they don’t have enough wins already.

As for Chapel Hill, they’re not out of it., at least not completely, but they do have a losing record in district play (2-3, and 5-4 overall).

But what of Henderson, who had the open date in the district this weekend?

The Lions still have to play BOTH Chapel Hill AND Lindale.

In short, there’s a lot of football to play out.

There wasn’t, though, with about a minute and a half left Thursday night between the Pirates and the Bulldogs.

Playing a night early because storms are forecasted to threaten East Texas on Friday, Pine Tree was clinging to a 35-28 lead for dear life, with Chapel Hill quarterback Malik Gee doing his dead-level best to put his team in front before time expired.

Gee hurled a ball into the end zone toward his most frequent target, Maliek Brown. But instead of Brown pulling it down, it was Wofford making a leaping catch, pulling it out of the air and out of the grasp of Brown.

Wofford’s pick gave the Pirates the ball back with 1:22 left, and they were able to simply kneel and run out the clock.

Gee put Chapel Hill on the scoreboard first on the night, a 2-yard run with 8 ½ minutes left in the first quarter. That lead lasted exactly 13 seconds – Pine Tree’s Roger Attaway took the kickoff back 80 yards for a touchdown of their own.

In the second quarter, it was Chapel Hill going in front again, this time on a 20-yard pass from Gee to Brown, a 14-6 Chapel Hill advantage.

Again the Pirates would come back. Colton Croft, who would throw for just over 300 yards and three touchdowns in the game, located Taibran Homer for a 66-yard touchdown pass. The Pirates, down a point, went for two and got it, a pass from Croft – a big quarterback – to Bosston Johnson, knotting the game up at 14.

A back-and-forth exchange between officials on what appeared to be a Pine Tree recovery on the kickoff led to Chapel Hill being awarded possession of the ball, only to fumble it right back to Pine Tree.

Back and forth they went, until finally, Lemuel Stinson had a breakthrough – a 67-yard breakthrough, to be exact, for a 21-14 lead.

Pine Tree would tie the game, though, before half. Ja’Karius Timmons scored on a 2-yard run, and the game went to 21 at the break.

The Pirates, leaning a bit on the home ground, broke through and scored to take their first lead of the game.

 Croft connected with Chris Nickoles for the Pirates’ go-ahead score (28-21 on a 13-yard touchdown).

PT would score once more, and set up the game’s final sequence.