Published: October 24, 2009 12:46 am      

Lynn Camp rallies late to top short-handed Pirates

BEREA — Berea finally just ran out of chances.

The Pirates held a lead late — 28-21 — against district rival Lynn Camp, but they allowed the Wildcats to score with 47 seconds left.

Then, on the 23-yard line, Berea backup quarterback Trenton Phillips threw a crucial interception to Josh Smith on a pass intended for Jeremy Hamilton. Phillips was under center for most of the game after quarterback Bo Brewer requested that Berea coach Kenan McWhorter put him at wide receiver.

“Moving Bo did work out well until he realized at the end of the game when we needed our deep balls, Trenton into the wind doesn’t have the arm strength,” McWhorter said. “Jeremy Hamilton was wide open and Bo realized that. That’s great until I have a quarterback who has no experience in the fourth quarter.”

With 28 seconds left, all Lynn Camp had to do was run out the clock, but Berea’s defense forced the Wildcats to turn the ball over on fourth down. With one shot at the end zone, Phillips’ pass to Brewer in the corner of the end zone slipped through his hands as the Pirates fell to fourth place in the district with the 29-28 loss.

The Pirates (5-4, 1-3 district) played despite the school district canceling classes all week due to illness. They were missing 10 players due to injuries, illnesses and family obligations. Berea will have to face Lexington Christian Academy in two weeks in the first round of the Class A playoffs in Lexington.

The downward slide began when Curtis Payne failed to get two yards for a first down near midfield on fourth down late in the fourth quarter. McWhorter said the coaching staff was reluctant to punt it because their first punt of the night had been blocked.

“I thought if we could get this first down and keep our offense on the field, it would be best,” McWhorter said. “Traditional coaching says punt that ball. I really feel like, in hindsight, if you have to blame the game on anybody, you blame it on me. I should have punted that ball.”

The decision not to punt the ball led to the winning score — a 28-yard pass with 47 seconds left. Wesley Steele rushed for the two-point conversion to put the Wildcats ahead by just one point.

Lynn Camp (4-5, 2-2 district) scored on its first two possessions off a pair of three-yard rushes by Steele and Dylan Napier. The Phillips-Brewer duo cut the lead to 15-8 with 7.7 seconds left in the first quarter, when Phillips hit Brewer for a 33-yard TD.

“The kids said they were really lackadaisical and not ready for football to start out tonight,” McWhorter said. “I guess not having school and sleeping in all week, they looked like zombies. You erase us being a zombie the first two possessions and we’re the better football team. Easily.”

Early in the third quarter, Joseph Parker got his team into excellent field position with a 31-yard reception to the 24-yard line. Just three plays later, Brewer found the end zone off a 13-yard TD reception. However, Berea still trailed, 15-14, when the two-point conversion failed.

“As far as our skill players go, we’ve been pretty steady,” McWhorter said. “We had seven who have started this year who were not on the sidelines. In Class A football, if you’ve got 10 empty jerseys in the locker room, you’re in trouble.”

Payne gave the Pirates another boost late in the third quarter, when he had a 13-yard run on fourth down to put the Pirates in scoring position. Then, Brewer had his third receiving touchdown of the season off a 10-yard pass from Phillips.

Lynn Camp scored early in the fourth quarter to retake the lead — 21-20 — but Phillips found Jeremy Hamilton across the middle on the next possession. Hamilton shook off a tackle and sprinted to the end zone. With Parker’s two-point conversion reception, the Pirates led 28-21 with just six and a half minutes left.

“We could have still beat this team,” McWhorter said. “An hour and a half before the game, I had people calling me to tell me they couldn’t play. If I would have known that yesterday, I could have done something about it yesterday. I literally drew up a defense and told who was starting 50 minutes before kickoff.”

Berea will face its final regular-season opponent next week, when they play host to South Floyd in Berea. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.