Rivals.com Home | Network Index | High School | Mobile | Video | Radio RSS | Subscribe | Shop
 

November 12, 2011

RivalsHigh

SOCIAL: Follow on Twitter | Friend on Facebook

Dallas Jackson is the Senior Analyst for RivalsHigh. Email him your question, comment or story ideas to DallasJ@Yahoo-Inc.com and follow him on Twitter.

Big games often come down to big plays. Friday night, they came down to two-point plays.

In California, No. 13 Servite won an epic battle with Santa Margarita when it went for and converted a two-point conversion to triumph in overtime, 43-42.

The good news for both teams here: While the game decided a league title both still advance to the postseason.

That's not the case in Indiana, where No. 20 Carmel held off No. 80 Ben Davis in a postseason thriller, 11-9, when it prevented a potential game-tying two-point play in the final seconds.

In Alabama, it was a big sprint, as Prattville used a 79-yard TD run from quarterback Jalen Whitlow to break open a tight game with Daphne.

Big games, big plays. There were plenty of them all over the country. Here's just a sampling in our Friday roundup:

No. 13 Servite 43, Santa Margarita 42

The back-and-forth, high-scoring, pinball-machine of a game needed to end some time. Perhaps it was only fitting that it was decided in overtime - when Anaheim (Calif.) Servite said it was going to win or lose on one play.

Cody Pittman gave Servite the win - and its seventh consecutive Trinity League title - when he hit Ainslie Johnson on a two-point pass.

The throw capped a huge game for Pittman, who threw for 246 yards and a score and ran for 102 yards and another score.

His counterpart, Santa Margarita's Johnny Stanton, was just as solid, throwing for 291 yards and a score while rushing for 120 yards and three touchdowns. His 7-yard rushing TD tied the game with 1:50 left.

The game was tied five different times at 7-7, 14-14, 21-21, 28-28 and 35-35.

  • RivalsHigh take: Servite, it seems this year, is a team that plays to the level of its competition and is always winning ugly. While that has kept the team undefeated it is also opening itself to some scrutiny as to whether or not it is the No. 1 team in SoCal. The Friars have been making a steady climb up the national rankings but this may indicate a tempered expectation is needed.

    For more, check out this report in the L.A. Times.

    No. 20 Carmel 11, No. 80 Ben Davis 9

    Carmel appeared to have won this hard-fought, mistake-prone, battle-it-out game in the final minutes when it held Ben Davis on a fourth-down play on the Carmel 14 with 2:12 left.

    But Carmel's offense couldn't get one first down. And after punting the ball back, Ben Davis went 65 yards in 30 seconds to pull to 11-9.

    It couldn't get any closer.

    A penalty pushed the ball back to the 8. From there, pressure from Carmel's defense forced an incomplete pass.

    The game's scoring reflected the tussle. Carmel scored on a safety but missed an extra point and had a field-goal attempt blocked. With the win, Carmel advances to a semi-state game against Cedar Grove, its third straight big game. Last week, it got past No. 21 Warren Central.

  • RivalsHigh take: The final score looks like it was a rough night for both pitchers and the bullpen didn't help. Carmel was able to stay up and focused after an all-out battle with Warren Central last week to get by another ranked foe in Ben Davis. Carmel can not take a week off mentally as Center Grove is another solid opponent this coming week. Indiana has been in the spotlight plenty this season and a lot of that is due to the play of the high level teams.

    For more, check out this report in the Indianapolis Star.

    No. 27 Prattville 13, No. 42 Daphne 3

    Prattville (Ala.) High wrapped up the game on Jalen Whitlow's 79-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

    But it won the game on defense.

    Prattville became the first team to hold high-scoring Daphne to fewer than 28 points all season and held its star running back, T.J. Yeldon, to fewer than 100 yards.

    The game was a defensive struggle, tied at 3 at the half. Prattville made its field goal in third quarter; Daphne missed its kick. Then Whitlow put it out of reach.

    It was a complete game for the uber-talented Prattville, which started the season ranked No. 1 but has been inconsistent throughout. It is now 9-2 and headed for a state quarterfinal.

  • RivalsHigh take: There are still plenty of quality teams in Alabama to think that this puts Prattville into the driver seat but it certainly restores the national faith in this as a serious state title threat. Prattville played tough on defense and used plenty of trash talk - mainly from LaRonji Vason - to keep the team emotionally lifted. It will need these types of efforts to contine the march through Alabama.

    For more, check out this report in the Montgomery Advertiser.

    No. 39 Steele 24, Johnson 14

    Cibolo (Texas) Steele knew it was in trouble early - when it gave up a 58-yard TD run less than two minutes into the game.

    It knew it was in trouble at halftime, when it went into the locker room tied at 14.

    Fortunately, it knew just what to do.

    Relying on a powerful running game and a crushing defense, Steele used two long-scoring drives in the second half to produce 10 points and shut down Johnson the rest of the way to triumph.

    Justin Stockton ran for 159 yards and a score. Tommy Armstrong had 62 yards and two TDs.

  • RivalsHigh take: Steele knows what it takes to make it to the state title game and while this may have been a bump in the road it did not derail anything that the team wants to accomplish. The quarterback play at Steele is very important to its overall success and teams on this level will start to key on that and as the playoffs advance some may have the talent to stop it altogether.

    For more, check out this report on MySanAntonio.com.

    No. 78 Butler 42, Independence 20

    Matthews (N.C.) Butler proved once again it is way ahead of Independence, throttling its rival in a game that wasn't as close as the final score indicates.

    Butler scored on five of its first six possessions then coasted to the win.

    Butler junior quarterback Riley Ferguson was 21-of-31 for 317 yards and four TDs, three of which went to his brother, Zach.

  • RivalsHigh take: Butler was tested the last time the two teams met and it knew that Independence would come out fired up. Butler met the emotions early and scored a pile of points to put the game out of reach. It was a more inspiring performance than has come out of this team in some time.

    For more, check out this report in The Charlotte Observer.

    LISTEN IN: Dallas Jackson chats with David Nuno about the night that was in high school football



    • RIVALS.COM TEAM NEWS
    Rivals.com is your source for: College Football | Football Recruiting | College Basketball | Basketball Recruiting | College Baseball | High School | College Merchandise
    Site-specific editorial/photos © Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. This website is an unofficial and independently operated source of news and information not affiliated with any school or team.
    About | Advertise with Us | Contact | Privacy Policy | About our Ads | Terms of Service | Copyright/IP policy | Yahoo! Sports - NBC Sports Network