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Lineman Jacob Nolen watches Chandler Jones run for a first down.

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Buffs beat Wythe 15-14

It came down to the final 48 seconds. The score was Wytheville 14, Floyd 7. A touchdown gave Floyd another 6 points. Then it was decision time. The Floyd coaches wanted to kick to tie the game, but they called a time-out and then the players picked the choice of PAT. Luke Harris hit Ethan Griffith with a pass to give Floyd the win in the opening round of the Region C, Division 2 playoffs. Final score was 15-14.
“We (coaches) drive the bus Monday through Thursday. The players drive the bus on Friday,” coach Winfred Beale said after the game. “They wanted to go for the win instead of the tie. And so we did.”
The Buffaloes had defeated the Maroons at Wytheville in September 40-39 in overtime. On that occasion the Buffs got the final touchdown, and they also decided to go for a two-point play and the win rather than kick a one-point PAT for the tie and a second overtime.
Although the Buffs’ win-by-a-PAT strategy was identical to the regular season meeting between the two teams, the tempo was different. Wythe ran the ball more and controlled the clock, keeping the score down.
The Maroons picked up two first downs on the opening possession before punting to Floyd at the 13. Chandler Jones got a first down on a 19 yard run, and Luke Harris hit Christian Rodrigue with a nine yard pass for another before Floyd was forced to punt.
Wythe’s next drive was stopped when Daniel Bradford intercepted a pass from Jacob Sharitz at the Floyd 36.
The Buffs were stopped again, and on the second play of the second quarter, Cole Peters had a booming punt, which Tyler Wood caught at the 10 and returned 90 yards for a touchdown. “We didn’t cover the gaps,” Peters said. “I went to the wrong side and got blocked.
Sharitz kicked the PAT and the Maroons led 7-0 at 10:55.
Floyd got one first down on a 13 yard carry by Harris, but the Buffs had to punt again. This time Peters had a 47 yard punt downed at the five.
The Maroons kept the ball for five minutes and got three first downs and moved to the 47 before punting to Floyd. The Buffs again had a three-and-out, with Peters pinning Wythe on a 50 yard punt to the 11 late in the period.
Floyd took the opening kick of the third quarter at the 35 on a kick out of bounds. Jones ran for four and Harris hit Brett Holman for six for the initial first down.
Jones ran for seven and Harris hit Griffith with a seven yard pass for a first down at the Maroon 42. Jones got seven on an option and Harris ran for 13 to the 22.
From there, Harris hit Holman with a pass at the 10, and Holman weaved through tacklers for the 22 yard touchdown. Nathan Weiss kicked the PAT and the game was tied 7-7 at 8:47.
The next Wythe drive was stopped when Griffith intercepted a Sharitz pass at the 27. Floyd had a three and out, but Peters had another 50 yard punt to the Maroon 23.
The Buffs had another possession that stretched from late in the third to early in the fourth quarter. Jones had two 10-yard carries for first downs.
But a holding penalty and a bad pitch on an option that lost eight yards put floyd in fourth and 30 and the Buffs punted again, to the 19.
It took only four plays for Wythe to score again. Will Sawyers ran for six, and Sharitz hit Atwell with a 28 yard pass.
Two plays later Sharitz hit Eli Lanter with a screen pass which Lanter turned into a 47 yard touchdown. Atwell kicked the PAT and Wythe led 14-7 at 8:52/
On the next possession, Harris hit Bradford with a 17 yard pass and on fourth and two, ran for three yards to the 37. But an offensive pass interference penalty moved the ball back 15, and Stephen Lester intercepted a screen pass and returned it to the Floyd 26 with 6:08 remaining.
The Maroons converted a fourth and one with a two yard carry by Sawyers to the 15. Wythe lost six on an option pitch that went out of bounds, and Sharitz ran for one for third and 15 with 3:20 left.
A tripping penalty and an incompletion put the ball back to the 47 for fourth and 32. Sharitz’ punt just barely went into the end zone, and Floyd took possession at the 20 with exactly three minutes left in the game.
Harris ran for 18 and then hit Griffith for completions of 15 and 13 to put the ball at the 34. Harris hit Bradford for eight and on the next play, Bradford wrestled the ball away from Jonathan Turpin for a first down at the 13.
Harris threw a 10 yard pass to Holman to the three, and Harris ran it in for the touchdown. On the PAT, Floyd set up in the polecat formation, with six linemen at the left sideline.
With only the center in front of him, Harris took the snap, dodged a tackle by Jesup Monahan, eluded a sack by Charles Camper, and then stepped away from Monahan again and found Griffith in the back right corner of the end zone for the PAT. Floyd led 15-14 with 48 seconds left.
Wood returned the kick to the 36. On third and ten, a personal foul penalty against Floyd moved the ball to the Buffalo 49.
On fourth and six, with 15 seconds left, a pass interference flag against Floyd moved the ball to the 30 with nine seconds left. Wythe set up in a diamond formation with four receivers to the left.
Bradford intercepted Sharitz’ pass and got to the 40 with five seconds left. Harris took a knee to kill the clock.
Rushing: Harris 11-50, Bonham 4-14, Jones 10-53, Holman 1-(-5) Passing: Harris 16-26 168 yards, 1 td, 1 int Receiving: Jones 1-19, Rodrigue 2-9, Holman 4-45 1 td, Bradford 5-48, Griffith 4-47
Punts: Peters 6-244 (40.7) Kick returns: Jones 1-26 Punt return: Holman 1-0
Tackles: Harris 6-2, Griffith 2-1, Jones 1-1, Holman 4-0, Carr 1-0, Link 2-0, Slusher 1-0, Bradford 6-3, Bonham 5-0, Ingram 3-2, Nolen 7-2, Lancianese 2-2, Whitlock 2-2, Vaughn 2-3, Allen 0-1, Peters 2-1 For loss: Ingram 1-1, Nolen 4-16, Whitlock 2-11 Interceptions: Griffith 1, Bradford 2