WOODLAWN - Two fourth-quarter turnovers and 146 yards in penalties proved to be the Woodlawn Junior Bears’ undoing last Friday as the South Side-Bee Branch Junior Hornets rallied from a two-score deficit to pull off a 30-24 win at the Carl Jones Sports Complex.
Woodlawn used a 25-yard run from Bentley Hoyt and a 23-yard touchdown run from Carson Young to take a 24-14 lead with 6:03 left in the game. The two-point attempt was fumbled.
South Side came back with a five-play, 49-yard scoring drive assisted by three Junior Bear penalties totaling 35 yards. A successful two-point conversion cut Woodlawn’s lead to 24-22.
The Junior Hornets then recovered an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff, and two plays later, South Side took its first lead of the game, 30-24, with 3:46 left.
Woodlawn, which had moved the ball effectively all game, needed eight plays, including an 18-yard run by Young on fourth-and-7, to march from its own 38 to the Junior Hornet 25. But on the next play, South Side came up with an interception with 1:13 left and was able to run out the clock to preserve the win.
Both teams found success moving the ball.
The Junior Hornets took the opening kickoff from the Junior Bears’ 48 to the 9 before Hoyt recovered a fumble and returned it to the Woodlawn 17. From there, the Junior Bears used 14 plays, including a 37-yard quarterback keeper by Jones, to cover 83 yards before Jones punched it in from the 1. The two-point attempt was no good leaving Woodlawn up 6-0.
South Side then used a 36-yard completion on its ensuing series to go 49 yards in three plays to tie the game, 6-6.
The Junior Bears answered with another long drive, this one covering 74 yards in 14 plays. Young capped it with an 18-yard touchdown run but the two-point attempt was fumbled away leaving Woodlawn up 12-6.
South Side did get down to the Woodlawn 3 before time expired for the first half.
Woodlawn scored on the opening series of the third quarter as Jones turned a fumble into a 19-yard gain …