Dan Brown

Chase Wright looks over the defensive alignment during action from the Cavaliers 22-13 loss to Laurens Academy. St. Johns will play host to Cathedral on Friday. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.

So close.

The St. Johns Cavaliers came within a yard of shocking Laurens Academy, the 2007 SCISA I8-A state runners up in 8-man football, trailing 14-13 at the start of the fourth quarter and chewing up the previous 99 yards of real estate with relative ease.

But it’s the last yard that counts.

They don’t call it the Longest Yard for nothing.

Cavs quarterback Ellis Hammond broke away on an 18-yard scamper carrying a load of white jerseys on his back to fight to the one-yard line. A score would give St. Johns the lead and about 10 minutes to stop one of the top offenses in SCISA, something they had done effectively since early in the second quarter.

Three plays later a 35-yard field goal attempt was blocked and the Crusaders marched 62 yards to ice the game with a score and two-point conversion to put the game out of reach 22-13.

“We came out there to win, and our kids played to win,” said Cavaliers coach Bill McCall. “We played hard and we made some mistakes, but we put ourselves in a position to win that game.”

The Cavs hit the field like they’d been doing this 11-man game for years.

They stuffed the potent Crusader offense and then marched downfield some 60-plus yards working a trio of run and pass plays from Hammond to CJ Downey, or Downey on the sweep, or Hammond to Dexter Phillips, or Phillips up the middle, or simply Hammond taking the snap and running for the pylons.

We made a lot of mistakes, but we didn’t make the amount of mistakes I thought we’d have,” McCall said. “Every time we get on the field we get better. You’ll see a better game out of us next time.”

Hammond scored the first touchdown in the Cavalier 11-man era on a one-yard plunge at the 5:39 mark in the first quarter. Jason Roberts followed with the kick and suddenly, there it was, St. Johns was playing 11-man football and leading.

The Crusaders’ Jordan Mitchell, who rushed for 181 yards on the night, answered quickly at the 4:24 mark darting 61-yards untouched down the left side to close the lead to 7-6. The soaking rain and slick turf from tropical storm Fay acted as the St. Johns Twelfth Man and the kick failed.

In the second quarter Laurens struck again as Mitchell hauled in a 29-yard pass from quarterback Luke Tollison, and after tacking on a 2-point conversation the Crusaders were up 14-6 and making it look like they’d score at will and often.

St. Johns answered near the end of the first half as Dexter Phillips scored from a yard out to cut the lead to 14-13, where it stayed until late in the fourth quarter.

The boys hit hard and I thought the offensive line hit well,” McCall said. “Our defense got hurt on the big plays, but I thought our secondary played well in keeping the game tight. I was really proud of the way our secondary played.”

Hammond was 10-21 passing for 112 yards and two interceptions, the last coming on a fourth down and long desperation pass into the end zone with just over a minute left on the clock.

Downey rushed for 86 yards on 11 carries and had 6 catches for 72 yards, not to mention a huge 46-yard kickoff return.

Phillips rushed for 35 yards on 9 carries, but at least a dozen of those yards were eaten up in a loss in the fourth quarter when the Cavs had the ball first and goal from the Crusader one-yard line.

On defense Downey, Hammond and Brandon Biggs all had 6 tackles apiece, and Phillips and Kevin Bellamy each had an interception.

“One player who you’ll start to hear a lot about is William Johnson our tight end,” McCall said. “He’s our tight end on offense and a big part of our defense. He works really hard at this game and he played a good game.”

McCall will be the first to point out that his 11-man Cavaliers squad is a work in progress this year, learning the game as they go, which will mean a lot of teaching between the lines on Friday nights.

“We haven’t had a lot of full-team practice time with only 18 players on our roster so when we get into game situations on Friday nights this is sometimes the first look these guys will get,” he said. “These are smart kids and they’ll learn fast. My approach to the rest of the season is that I can’t worry about who we’re playing or who we’ll play next week. I can only worry about St. Johns. I can only worry about what we do on the field. We take care of our own business and the rest will take care of itself.”

The Cavaliers (0-1) will host Cathedral on Friday at St. Johns. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.

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