Eupora went into halftime down 13-6 to Class 3A Winona on Friday night.
Then the strangest thing happened. The officials came into the Eupora locker room and told coach Stephen Edwards that there was still seven seconds on the clock due to an error by the clock operator.
The Eagles then went back out to finish the half and 15 seconds were placed on the clock. Three plays later, Winona scored on a quarterback keeper and took a 21-6 lead into the second halftime on the way to a 28-6 win.
Edwards said it was an odd situation and one he has never seen before.
“We go into halftime and it was 13-6 and we are feeling pretty good about where we are at,” Edwards said. “We are just one play from being tied and then they tell us there are seven seconds left. We go out there and they give them 15 seconds and they got three plays and scored on the last one. I have never been a part of something like that before where you go into halftime and 10 minutes later they tell you to come back out because of an error by the clock operator. It was a crazy night but we have to overcome those things.”
Winona got the ball to start the game and drove 74 yards in 15 plays as Ole Miss commit An’darius Coffey scored on a 3-yard run with 5:57 left in the first fora 7-0 lead.
Eupora got deep in Winona territory with a 60-yard pass from Cade Atkins. The drive stalled after a fake field goal attempt.
Winona made the Eagles pay as Coffey completed a 79-yard touchdown pass with 15.8 seconds left in the first for a 13-0 lead.
“You can’t simulate what we saw on Friday night,” Edwards said of Coffey. “He’s a really good player. But I thought we got better from last week and I thought the kids played hard. Their quarterback made some plays and it kind of got away from us. But I thought the kid played hard and that’s all I can ask of them.”
The Eagles found the end zone late in the first half as they went 55 yards in 12 plays as Tra McComb scored on a 2-yard run with 2:16 left in the game. The PAT failed and Winona led 13-6.
It appeared as if the Eagles were going into halftime down 13-6 before being called back out for three plays as Coffey scored on a 5-yard keeper as the half expired for a 21-6 lead.
“We got the ball to start the second half and it would have been 13-6,” Edwards said. “We are one play from being able to tie the game. Two scores makes it a totally different game. We had two lightning delays. We had one play where it should have been fourth down on a penalty and I accepted it. They said it was third down and they throw a touchdown pass. They told me they messed up those two plays and that’s two touchdowns.”
The Eagles were unable to find the end zone in the second half while Winona added another score. The Tigers had 165 yards passing and 234 rushing as Cofey rushed for 74 yards on 14 carries with two TDs.
McComb led the Eagles with 47 yards on five carries and two catches for 64 yards. Adkins was 6-for-10 for 107 yard.
On defense, De-Unte Watson had nine tackles and one tackle for loss while M.J. Thomas had eight tackles. Travon McMillian had seven tackles while Jacob Collum had five stops. Zak Morris had four tackles while Darius Brown had three tackles and two pass breakups. Sammy Bowie had three tackles and a sack.
