By CAITLIN SULLIVAN/Staff

 

Ten sheriff’s deputies escorted the referees from the stadium. It was quick and quiet. The Holston High School Cavaliers headed to their buses and fans lined the fence along the field. One fan clapped. Another booed. 

The team had lost. The first of the season for the Cavaliers, a team that had been on an improbable five-game winning streak. 

The Holston football team came up seven points shy during the last 20 seconds of the game Friday against Patrick Henry. The Rebels, 3-3 for the season, handed the 5-1 Holston team its first loss in the 21-14 Hogoheegee District match.

An hour earlier, Jason Matlock, a Holston High alum in his first season as Cavalier coach, stood in the center of his kneeling team.

“We’re five-and-one,” he said. “Get your heads up. You got nothing to be ashamed of.”

Cavalier fans didn’t budge when the game ended. They stayed in their seats in the Patrick Henry stadium as coaches herded their staggering team together. Even as the Rebel fans began to disperse, the red-clad Cavalier supporters lingered. 

It was the last minute of the game that they wanted to bring back. The minute when the Cavaliers had tied, maybe won and then lost the game in just seconds.

Their hands went up, then to their heads and then down. 

Some of the players threw down their helmets. Others cried, paced, yelled or just let their helmeted heads sink into the their oversized shoulders. 

In that final minute, the Cavaliers appeared to score after the Rebels fumbled at the goal line. The referee along the Holston side signaled touchdown. Other officials closer to the play rescinded the call.

Cavalier quarterback Jon Pratt thought it was third down. He had spiked the ball. It was fourth down. And the game was over with 11 seconds remaining.

Matlock said the officials made the right call; however, he said he had called for a time-out twice in the last 15 seconds and was never given one.

“A lot of people want to point to those last few seconds (as the reason we lost) but we played poorly in a few areas of the game; there were several opportunities we could have capitalized on,” Matlock said. 

Just before halftime, Holston fumbled with about 20 seconds left and Patrick Henry scored its first points of the game. It was 14-6 at the break.

Cavalier Aaron Reynolds ran for a touchdown as the band hummed in the stands and cheerleaders danced. 

“Look at the scoreboard; we’re winning,” a Cavalier yelled, energizing his sideline teammates.

Earlier, Reynolds had taken the ball to the end zone on the opening kickoff.

“We have had a winning streak so this is new territory,” said Holston Principle Jimmie King before the game. “They’re staying pretty grounded.”

The Cavaliers haven’t had a winning season since 1995, the last time they went to the playoffs.

In the afternoon sun before the game, the Cavaliers neatly lined up on the Patrick Henry High School football field to warm up. Matlock walked between the statues of stretching boys with a whistle. They clapped between stretches and it echoed through the stadium. The occasional yelp echoed too as they eagerly waited to begin the game.

This Friday they’ll again line the field as they face Rural Retreat High School, this time on their own turf. And they’ll clap between stretches. 

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