It was a wild night at Cumberland Gap where the West Greene Buffaloes fought hard, battled adversity, and landed some big punches, but ultimately fell inches short in a 26-24 loss on Friday night.
“I’m telling you, man. If I wasn’t bald, I would be by the end of this season. Another close one. Kids battled and battled and fought and fought. We faced a ton of adversity tonight that we’ve not really had to face all year. A lot of things that were out of our control went against us, but our kids kept fighting,” West Greene Head Coach Caleb Slover said.
Football is said to be a game of inches and it certainly was on Friday night.
West Greene landed the first blow in Friday’s battle, but Cumberland Gap scored 20-straight points to back West Greene in a corner. The Buffs powered through the double-digit deficit and managed to sneak back within two points of the lead.
The Panthers went back up by eight before West Greene started marching downfield with a chance to tie. The Buffs managed to miraculously score on 4th-and-12 with the game on the line, and set up for a two-point conversion play on the one-and-a-half yard line after a penalty.
Sophomore quarterback Aiden Thompson powered up the middle and dove for the end zone, but he was stopped inches short of the goal line and West Greene’s chances of tying and potentially winning were dashed.
“We had a chance right there with the two-point conversion to tie it up. You can’t fight judgement calls and it was close. I think he was in, but again I’m not down there on the line so I can’t make that call,” Slover mentioned.
Friday’s game had a lot riding on it. Not many people are familiar with Cumberland Gap and West Greene both being in this position to host a playoff game. Two squads fighting for the No. 3 spot in the standings last year and fighting for a chance to get in the playoffs in the two years prior to that were fighting for a chance to host. With the win, the Panthers will be at home next week and host Oneida. West Greene will travel to see Eagleton in Maryville.
Coach Slover described the idea of traveling in the opening round of the playoffs before Eagleton was finalized as the destination.
“It’s another game for us. This is the part of building the program, and the part of the learning process, and the part of the building blocks that you’ve got to put down to keep going. We’ve been on the road five times already this year. It’s another road trip. It’s another opportunity for our guys to see if we can go out and fight and play hard one more time. Now we’re in a situation where you gotta win if you wanna play another game. So, they know what’s at stake,” Coach Slover explained.
West Greene tallied 282 total yards of offense. Cumberland Gap gained 359 yards with 342 of it on the ground in the rushing department.
The Buffs ended the regular season with a 1-8 (1-2) record. Cumberland Gap finished 7-3 (2-1).
West Greene showed lots of promise early after punting on the first drive of the game. After giving up runs of 7, 11, 11, and 15 to Gabriel Daniels the Buffs stood strong and didn’t allow a first down on the next four plays and forced a turnover on downs at the 10-yard line.
The Buffaloes relied on explosive play to march 90 yards to the end zone on a 4-minute and 47-second drive. Aiden Thompson ran for 13 yards and moved the sticks. Facing 4th down, Shawn Bailey fooled the defense on a fake punt and connected with Tristan Banks for a 25-yard pass down to the 23. Jagger Dearinger finished the drive with a 21-yard receiving touchdown to help West Greene strike first.
The Buffs led 6-0 with 9:42 remaining in the first half.
It took Cumberland Gap almost four full minutes to reach the end zone and respond. Senior Gabriel Daniels finished the possession with a 3-yard rushing touchdown. The two-point conversion was successful and the Panthers were on top, 8-6, with 5:49 left in the second.
The Panthers extended the lead following an empty possession for West Greene. Gap finished a 59-yard drive in a little over two minutes with a Curtis Hunley 6-yard rushing touchdown. The two-point try failed and West Greene trailed 14-6 with 2:33 to go until the half.
Both teams entered halftime with the scoreboard showing 14-6 in Cumberland Gap’s favor.
Cumberland Gap opened up the second half with a 2-minute and 30-second drive covering 79 yards resulting in six more. Gabriel Daniels bounced outside and raced 13 yards across the chalk for a touchdown. The Panthers run reached 20-straight points with a 20-6 lead with 8:21 left in the third.
The Buffs did not back down. The most explosive play of the game ended with Aiden Thompson reaching the end zone from 54 yards out. The sophomore quarterback tucked it and turned up field making multiple defenders miss for a 54-yard touchdown. The two-point conversion failed and West Greene now trailed 20-12 with 6:42 left in the third.
Thompson finished with 88 rushing yards on 14 carries and 144 passing yards. The sophomore was responsible for all four touchdowns scored for West Greene with three passing and one rushing.
West Greene forced a fumble on defense next and Jagger Dearinger recovered the ball to give it back to the offense. A four-plus minute drive wasted by the Panthers with a fumble. The Buffs made them pay. AJ McMurray hauled in a 14-yard catch with a late hit penalty added on at the end. The Buffs faced a crucial 4th-&-1 at the end of the third quarter and it was picked up with a short gain by Aiden Thompson. The drive ended with senior wideout Tristan Banks pulling in a 20-yard touchdown catch on the first play of the fourth. The two-point try was again unsuccessful and West Greene trailed 20-18 with 11:52 left.
But unfortunately, Cumberland Gap scored on the next play.
Gabriel Daniels scored his third of the night, breaking free on a 64-yard rushing touchdown. Cumberland Gap led 26-18 with 11:29 left.
Daniels finished with 26 rushes for 221 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Both teams traded points before West Greene received the ball back with 6:27 to go. AJ McMurray provided a timely 36-yard catch to the 20-yard line, but the drive stalled with a turnover on downs. The Buffs got a stop on defense and forced a three-and-out and got the ball back again with 3:34 left, and probably should’ve been more, on their own 42-yard line.
The drive started with a pass interference penalty on Cumberland Gap. West Greene wide receiver AJ McMurray sustained an injury with 2:12 left and stopped the action briefly. McMurray left leading West Greene with 5 catches for 62 yards. Jagger Dearinger stepped in on the right side of the line in his place and made the play of the game. Facing 4th-&-12 with the game on the line, Aiden Thompson lobbed up a 33-yard touchdown bomb to Dearinger.
Then the controversy struck.
West Greene trailed 26-24 with 1:59 left and were obviously attempting a two-point conversion to tie the game. Aiden Thompson lined up in shotgun, took the snap, and ran it between the tackles. The quarterback lunged, but got lost in the sea of bodies. The officials blew the whistle and marked him short of the goal line for an unsuccessful conversion attempt.
The Buffs attempted an onside kick and were close to recovering, but Cumberland Gap jumped on it a hair sooner than the Buffs could and kneeled it out.
West Greene suffered another heartbreaker in Cumberland Gap and left DeLynn Cline Stadium with a 26-24 loss.
“We’ve got to find a way to make things go our way a couple more times, but I’m so proud of them. They’re hurting right now and they’re upset. I think they played as hard as they played all year long. They kept battling and found a way to get back into it in a tough environment with a really good football team,” Coach Slover expressed.
West Greene travels to Eagleton next Friday in the opening round of the Class 2A playoffs. Kickoff is set for 7 PM.
