How Hendersonville beat Portland on a last-minute TD

PORTLAND — Caleb Sams threw for 100 yards on Hendersonville's final drive against Portland — a statistic that's usually impossible given the length of a football field.

That's how bad it was for the Commandos on Friday. They got the ball with 1:22 left and no timeouts, trailing Portland by four. A block from behind on a punt return got them to their own 5 yards. Sams hit Riley Jordan for 11 yards and a first down on the first play. But a false start on the next play put Hendersonville up 11.

Sams told Jordan to run a go route. If Sams could simply hit his top receiver one-on-one, the Commandos could have a spark. Thanks to broken reporting, they got a lot more.

Sams rolled left and, on the run, shot to a wide-open Jordan, who caught the ball 20 yards downfield and outran the entire Panther defense for an 89-yard touchdown with 42.6 seconds to play. The pass capped a 31-28 win for Hendersonville (6-2, 3-1 Region 7-5A) and secured the Commandos' eighth straight berth in the TSSAA football playoffs.

“It probably wasn’t exactly how we portrayed it on the board,” Hendersonville coach James Beasley said. “But we're working on these things, glitches and trying to figure out where the open areas are going to be. We were able to spot them at the right time.”

Because of a powerful rushing attack from Portland, the Commandos fell behind 28-14 midway through the third quarter before getting their own ground game going. Senior Cooper Jordan, Riley's brother, ran for 101 yards and two touchdowns, 80 of them after halftime, to spur Hendersonville on two scoring drives.

But Sams, who had thrown for just 93 yards before the final drive, knew he had to get the ball in the air to complete the comeback. The senior quarterback was unimpressed.

“You just keep your confidence high,” Sams said. “We run the ball pretty well and I trust all of our players and they all love each other. Trust and commitment were simply the greatest thing.”

TSSAA FOOTBALL RESULTS: Week 9 Tennessee high school football scoreboard

Sams didn't expect Jordan to be so open, but just before the snap, the Panthers (4-4, 1-3) changed their defense. As Sams ran to his left, he noticed one of their cornerbacks drifting down to stop him from sliding down. Meanwhile, he knew Justin Zuger was running down the seam, diverting attention from Jordan.

It wasn't an easy throw by any means — Sams shot with his weak foot, with Portland's Shawn Sebring in his face and ready to hit him as soon as he released the ball — but the closest Panther was miles away from Jordan. When he caught the ball, all that was left for him was the playoffs.

“I knew I was gone when the corner came,” Jordan said. “I knew I could outrun anyone on the field.”

Jacob Shames can be reached by email at [email protected] and on Twitter at @Jacob_Shames.

Related Posts

Water main breaks in northwest Portland; Officials say discolored water is safe to drink

Bolts and duds from LA's Week 5 loss to GB

NLDS: LA Dodgers fan who threw first ball at Padres player in Game 2 speaks out

Leave a Reply Cancel reply