Published: September 06, 2008 01:06 am      

Berea rallies to knock off Pineville, 12-7

BEREA — Berea coach Kenan McWhorter pulled a fast one Friday on Pineville.

With 1:07 left in the game, down by one with the ball on the 10-yard line, McWhorter sent in two wide receivers and then called for junior quarterback Bo Brewer to run up the middle — which he did, right into the end zone to put the Pirates up, 12-7.

“That last play, when he ran the touchdown, I subbed my best receivers in the game and made them think I was going to pass it,” McWhorter said. “I ran some guys into deep routes and I knew Bo would step into the pocket. He looks skinny, but he runs hard and heavy.”

Despite having a five-point lead, Berea still had work to do.

With Pineville’s senior quarterback Jon Stanley so comfortable in the shotgun formation, McWhorter sent his four defensive backs in for a little pass protection. Senior defensive back Steve Sandefur sealed the victory for Berea by intercepting Stanley with 14 seconds left on the clock.

“I’m comfortable when the other teams in the shotgun because of Steve Sandefur, (junior defensive back) Jeremy Hamilton, (junior defensive back) Joseph Parker and (sophomore defensive back) Jordon Poff. We have four of the best pass-cover defensive backs we could get,” McWhorter said. “I really like that situation. I tell those four to back up and when he throws the ball, make a play on it.”

Berea was in a 7-0 hole early after Pineville scored on a six-yard rushing touchdown with 11:53 left in the first quarter. Despite a fumble after a pitch to junior wide receiver Justin Johnson that went awry and an interception off of Brewer by Pineville sophomore defensive back Eric Raby, Berea got out of the first half only down by a score.

“We made some defensive adjustments at halftime,” McWhorter said. “They’re a shotgun-spread team normally and they came out in the I-formation and running the ball. That was just good coaching on coach (Bart) Elam’s part.”

On its first possession of the second half, Berea was able to capitalize on a personal foul call on Pineville’s Micah Rutherford and a 16-yard reception by junior running back Jordan Clontz with a five-yard touchdown rush by freshman running back Curtis Payne. The ensuing extra-point attempt was blocked, but to McWhorter, that didn’t matter.

“I was teary-eyed because what I longed for when I came here was I saw on film that Berea has good athletes but we would get down early in the game and quit,” he said. “We’d say, ‘Same old Berea. We’re going to get beat by 50,’ and the kids would start arguing with each other and quit. So we were down 7-0 and the kids believed in the system and the coaches and each other. I don’t know how long it’s been since Berea had a comeback win.”

Despite Berea getting inside Pineville territory twice, it couldn’t find the end zone until Brewer (whose nickname on the team is Tebow, after University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow) was able to find the seam to seal the victory for the Pirates, who improve to 2-0 on the season.

Berea will return to action Sept. 19, when they will play host to Beth Haven at 7:30 p.m. McWhorter said he thought his team’s biggest achievement Friday night was on the defensive side of the ball.

“Pineville is a tough, well-coached team,” he said. “They can throw the ball, they can run the ball. To hold them to seven points is something for Berea. There were some games last year where teams would just line up and put up 28, 35 points, no problem. For us to get scored on early and then go down the field and score on them, and step up and make some stops, that was absolutely crucial.”