Middle Creek clips Fuquay-Varina on OT field goal in battle of unbeatens

Seven weeks ago, Jared Shea landed on his head and shoulder while playing a little Sunday afternoon pick-up basketball. The Middle Creek football team kicker broke his collarbone and suffered a concussion.

Friday night, he made what could be called a triumphant return, calmly booting a 20-yard field goal through the uprights in overtime to give Middle Creek a 17-14 victory over Fuquay-Varina in one of the biggest regular-season high school football games played in the Triangle this decade.

The kick put the N&O’s second-ranked team on a collision course with the Southwestern Wake Athletic 4A Conference championship. Both Middle Creek and Fuquay-Varina entered the game with matching 8-0 (overall) and 4-0 (conference marks).

Fuquay-Varina’s overtime possession got off to a rough start when quarterback Brycen Braswell was tripped up by Middle Creek’s John Singleton, pushing the Bengals back to the 13-yard-line. After a failed throw to the end zone, David Henson’s 30-yard field goal went wide right.

Middle Creek kept the ball on the ground for three plays before turning the ball over to the right foot of Shea.

“It didn’t really feel any different than any other kick,” Shea said. “I just knew my team really needed it. We played great. It’s an amazing feeling to help us win.”

After Middle Creek opened the game with a 13-play touchdown drive capped by a 3-yard TD run from Darian Fogg, the scoring dearth started. The Bengals tied it at 7-all with 8:38 to play in the second quarter on a 1-yard TD run from Colten Smith.

Fuquay-Varina held the ball for 15 of the first 18 minutes of play in the second half, but couldn’t produce any points until Josh Arrington bulled his way into the end zone from a yard out with 5:54 to play in regulation for a 14-7 lead.

“They play a different game than us, but it made for an amazing night of high school football,” said Mustangs coach Randy Ragland. “We told the kids at halftime that we were not going to get many shots at scoring in the second half. We didn’t, but our defense played well enough that (the turnovers) didn’t kill our chances to win.”

The Bengals ran for 243 yards, while the Mustangs threw for 190.

“They’re constantly getting 10-and-a-half yards with three plays,” Ragland said of Fuquay-Varina. “Just pounding you to death. But our defense stayed away from the big plays. Our secondary, the speed they have, it’s going to be tough to consistently get away from them.”

Middle Creek finally found a spark when quarterback Dominique Shoffner hit Johnathan Spencer in the flat near the 50-yard-line. Spencer trusted his blocking and somehow avoided three Bengal defenders and the sideline before breaking away on a 55-yard touchdown reception that tied the score.

“My running back (DeAndre Jones) just kept telling me that play was there if I trusted the blocking,” Spencer said of the TD. “He was right. He got out in front of me and the guys made great blocks to give me a chance to get loose.”

Arrington ran for 118 yards on 25 tough carries, while Smith added 86 on 18 carries.

Fuquay-Varina burned up the rest of the clock, moving inside of the Middle Creek 20 before being stopped on third down.

After running the clock down to 2.3 seconds, the Bengals sent out Henson. He struck the ball cleanly with the crowd of 4,000-plus at Bengal Stadium all eyeing the ball as it neared the crossbar of the goalpost only to see it fall less than a yard short, setting up the overtime period.

“Our defense was lights out,” said Bengals coach Jeb Hall. “To hold those guys to that was just great. … We just didn’t convert when we had to a couple of times on fourth down. We didn’t shoot ourselves in the foot, it just didn’t happen for us.”

This story was originally published October 23, 2015 at 10:45 PM with the headline "Middle Creek clips Fuquay-Varina on OT field goal in battle of unbeatens."