Friday Night Finish:Some Kind of Finish at “The Kirb” with Northern Guilford pulling out the win over the Page Pirates(“Instant Classic” at The Kirb)

Final Tonight from Marion Kirby Stadium, on the Page High School campus…
Northern Guilford 48, Page 41
NG(8-0/5-0)/Page(4-4/4-1)
We said final tonight from Marion Kirby Stadium, but is this really over??? The way the officials were calling this game, I thought it might still be going on, on Sunday, right before the Carolina Panthers get ready to play the Minnesota Vikings…The officials were taking so much time in calling this game, I thought we might be getting a call from Donald Trump, asking if this was the time to ‘Make America Late Again’….

When the officials let the boys line and play, and when the refs allowed for there to be some kind of flow/rhythm in this football game, it was turning out to be one of those Games of the Week, Games of the Month, and Games of the Year, all rolled into one…

Both teams, Page and Northern Guilford were playing their tails off and playing their hearts out….This reminded me of the game featuring Dudley and Page, at Page(Marion Kirby Stadium) back about 5-6 years ago, and Dudley was driving toward that east Page end zone, and the Dudley Panthers were being led by their senior quarterback Hendon Hooker, and Page had a touchdown lead late in this game, but after a punt return by Brion Seagraves set Dudley up at the Page 7-yard line, Hooker and Dudley were knocking at the Pirates back door, but the Pirates’ defense would not let Dudley in…Page stopped Dudley short at the Page one-yard line as the game ended, but both Page and Dudley went on to play for the State Championship….Page in the 4-AA’s and Dudley in the 3-AA’s…
(At the very end, one of the most intense games that you will ever see.)

Tonight’s game was just as close and intense…The game again was really fun to watch, when the officials would let the boys go ahead and play…And when they played, that was one of the best high school football games I have seen around here in awhile…Best other recent game would be the Grimsley-Matthews Butler game, in the 4-A Regional Final this past Spring, at Jamieson Stadium….

There were moments in this game with Page and Northern Guilford tonight, when you didn’t know how much Northern was going to win by….I mean Northern Guilford came out early in this game like a dynamo and they were taking Page down, and would not let the Pirates breathe…NG went up 27-0 before some of the fans even had a chance to get to their seats, at ‘The Kirb’/Marion Kirby Stadium…Jack Mercer, who is fast becoming a big-name QB for Northern, Mercer had already thrown three TD passes, in the first 20 minutes of this game…Mercer was hitting Manny Elliot once and Zion Crawford twice for NG TD’s…

It was beginning to look like this game would for all intents and purposes, would be over before we reached halftime…NG up 27-0 over Page, and some Pirate fans were calling for somebody to start the bus, and get those Northern Guilford Nighthawks out of here/there…Then all of the sudden Page found their stride when junior Nick Williamson, the Pirates’ QB found Jerron Blackwell for a 20-yard TD pass and with the Tylar Elliot Page PAT kick, Northern Guilford was now leading Page, 27-7, and it appeared that Page was getting back into this football game…
Halftime we were looking at NG 27, Page 7

There was a fracas thought broke out over by the Page sideline right before the first half ended, and players were flying around all over the place, and it looked like a Slobberknocker might be about set to break out…As it turns out, Page got great field position to begin the second half, and the Pirates took full advantage of the field advantage, and before you could blink an eye, Page had scored two quick touchdowns to cut the NG lead to just seven points, at 27-20…Page had gone on one of those Coach Evan Fancourt 20-0 runs, and Page was back in this game…

Northern said, “Page back in this game, no way”….NG got a one-yard run by Jaden Hairston and with the Grant McNeill PAT kick, Northern goes back on top, 34-20, with a two-touchdown lead…Jerron Blackwell, the freaky freshman for the Page Pirates, hits paydirt on a three-yard TD carry, and now we are staring at a 34-26 game, with NG still in front…Page missed two straight PAT kicks, but that didn’t not damper their spirits, as the Third Quarter came to close, with our score:Northern Guilford 34, Page 26..

Page is right back in this thing, right??? The NG Nighthawk said not so fast, my unfeathered friend….NG scored again with Jumpin’ Jack Flash Mercer hitting the promised land from one yard away, and with the McNeill PAT kick, Northern has extended their margin/advantage back to 15 points, NG on top of Page, 41-26….So Page down two scores in the fourth quarter and this game is on the way out, with Northern leaving at the visitor’s gate with a two-touchdown victory, right???

Not yet pal, because the Page QB Nick Williamson has other ideas on his mind, and he hooks up with Blackwell, for a 32-yard TD pass play, and it was a perfect over the left shoulder catch by Blackwell, in the left corner of the Nighthawks’ end zone, and with the Page PAT kick from Elliot, Page has cut the NG lead back to just a one-touchdown difference again…We are at NG 41, Page 33, with a little over five minutes left in this ballgame…

Then the Page defense comes up with one of their “Plays of the Game”, when Parker Maynard intercepted Northern’s QB Jack Mercer, and it is a Page possession right around the Nighthawks 14-yard line, and Maynard has his fellow Pirates back in the boat/in the ship, for an opportunity to tie up this football meeting at, ‘The Kirb”…Trevon Hester, who has had a monster rushing game for Page, Hester hits that line hard, and he ends up in the end zone, and with Hester’s two-point conversion run, after the touchdown, Page has tied this game up at 41-41, Nighthawks and Pirates…

Man, we should load up and go home now, and just call this thing a tie ballgame, right??? There’s just 47 seconds left in the game, and everybody would be happy with a tie, right??? 41-41, and to be honest with you, I thought this game was headed to Overtime, but the Northern Guilford Nighthawks, and their team-leading quarterback Jack Mercer had other ideas, right???

YES, and Northern goes on a run and they move into what looks like would be field goal range, but even with just 6.9 seconds left on the game clock, Northern felt they could get off two plays, with no timeouts remaining, so the ‘Hawks decided to go for all the marbles, and they took a shot at the end zone, and guess what??? Jumpin’ Jack Flash/Jack Mercer hit Terrell Timmons for a TD pass on the right side of the end zone, and the man that had thrown an interception that set up the Page game-tying touchdown, all that young man Jack Mercer did was take/lead his team back down the field for the Game-Winning Touchdown….Grant McNeill’s final PAT kick of the evening was good, and Northern now leads this game, by the score of 48-41 with only 6.9 seconds left to play…Mercer to Timmons, for 15-yard Game-Winning TD…

Page takes the kickoff and went to work from around their own 40-yard line, and on the very last play of the game, Page QB Nick Williamson gets sacked from behind, by on-charging Nighthawk Vance Bolyard….Bolyard played some very critical defensive moments in this contest for Northern Guilford….

Northern Guilford has won this major Metro 4-A matchup, 48-41, over the home standing Page Pirates….Not sure how anybody was still standing after this game…It was one of those “Classic Contests”…

Steak n Shake Offensive Player of the Game for Northern Guilford:Jack Mercer
(Quite a bit of bounce-back and ‘true-grit’ character shown by Jack Mercer in the closing seconds of this game)
Steak n Shake Defensive Player of the Game for Northern Guilford:Jay Underwood

Steak n Shake Offensive Players of the Game for Page:Trevon Hester/Nick Williamson/Jerron Blackwell
Steak n Shake Defensive Player of the Game for Page:Parker Maynard

Mercer, Timmons, Crawford, McNeill, Underwood, Bolyard, Elliot, and others with BIG nights for Northern…..
Hester, Blackwell, Williamson, Deloatch, Maynard, Thompson, Sherrill, and others with BIG nights for Page…

Scoring Talley:
7-0 Northern Guilford on a 10-yard pass by Mercer to Elliot…PAT Kick was good by McNeill…10:18 left First Quarter, 7-0 NG
14-0 Northern on a 50-yard scoop and score fumble return by Jay Underwood…PAT kick by McNeill…8:02 left in First Quarter, 14-0 NG
20-0 Northern on a 52-yard pass from Mercer to Crawford…PAT run fails…5:14 left First Quarter, 20-0 NG
27-0 Northern on a 39-yard pass from Mercer to Crawford again…McNeill PAT kick is good…2:23 seconds left in Second Quarter, 27-0 NG
27-7 Page scores on a 20-yard TD pass from Williamson to Blackwell, Elliot’s PAT kick is good…17.9 seconds left in the Second Quarter, 27-2 NG
27-14 Page on a 55-yard TD pass from Williamson to Deloatch, Elliot’s PAT kick is good…10:50 left in the Third Quarter, 27-14 NG
27-20 Page on a 16-yard Blackwell TD run, Kick is no good…5:55 left in the Third Quarter, 27-20 NG
34-20 Northern on a Hairston 1-yard TD run, McNeill PAT kick is good…4:09 left in the Third Quarter, 34-20 NG
34-26 Page with a Blackwell 3-yard run, PAT kick is no good and the Third Quarter ends, 24-26 NG
41-26 Northern gets a 1-yard run by Mercer, McNeill PAT kick is good…8:47 left in the Fourth Quarter, 41-26 NG
41-33 Page on a 32-yard pass from Williamson to Blackwell and the Elliot PAT kick is good…5:36 left in the Fourth Quarter, 41-33 NG…Elliot’s PAT kick was from 35 yards out…
41-41 Page with Hester scoring on a five-yard run, and Hester ran for the Two-Point Conversion…47 seconds left in the game, 41-41, we are all tied up…
48-41 Northern sees Mercer hit Timmons on a 15-yard TD pass and the McNeill PAT kick was good…6.9 seconds left in the game, 48-41 NG…
Final Score:Northern Guilford 48, Page 41

Jack Mercer for Northern Guilford 19-27 passing/4 TD passes/1 Interception/323 yards passing…
Trevon Hester from Page with 152 yards rushing and one TD…29 carries for Hester…
Nick Williamson for Page goes 9-17 passing for 212 yards and 3 TD passes…
Devontay Deloatch with 4 receptions for 117 yards and 1 TD catch…
Jerron Blackwell with two TD receptions and 2 TD runs for Page..
More stats in this spot on Saturday morning…