A ‘blessed’ play and a key takeaway give Lewisville big win over rival Great Falls
Not much changes year to year, generation to generation, when you talk Great Falls and Lewisville football — a rivalry that peers Duke versus North Carolina and South Carolina versus Clemson, Chester County residents insist.
But the latest matchup between the two 1A football schools changed in one play in Richburg on Friday night.
With under a minute left in an otherwise mundane first half, Lewisville junior quarterback Christien Yoder rolled to his right to avoid pressure and launched a loose-spiraling toss 40 yards in the air. The pass didn’t look to be intended for running back/receiver senior Jayden Barnes — but he ran under it anyway, caught it and took it into the endzone.
“I come across the middle, (Yoder) is on his back foot and he just throws it up,” Barnes told The Herald when asked about the play. “And the corner keeps running, hits Deven (McCrorey), and I’m like, ‘Ain’t nobody going to catch the ball.’ So I just ran up under it, jumped up and caught it.
“And when I landed, I didn’t see anyone around me, so I just kept running. It was just a blessed play to be honest.”
7-0, Lewisville.
If that play changed the game, a Lewisville takeaway late in the third quarter decided it: Great Falls, after struggling to move the ball into Lewisville territory in the second half, was forced to punt from its own endzone. The Red Devils mishandled the snap, and then Lewisville’s John Hampton Dorsey, who was pursuing the punter, fell on the ball and gave the Lions a two-score lead.
14-0, Lewisville.
“This is the first time in my nine years here that we’ve ever dressed fewer players than Great Falls,” Lewisville head coach Will Mitchell told The Herald after the game. “We can’t really be too adventurous on special teams just because guys are playing the whole time. But what we do is we try to be opportunistic.
“Nine times out of ten, they’re going to punt it out of the endzone. But what we want is, we don’t want to be sitting back, we want at least a couple of guys going, so that if the opportunity presents itself, we’re able to take advantage.”
And that’s what the Lions did.
A scoreless fourth quarter delivered the Lions a 14-0 victory over their cross-county rivals — their first of which since 2017.
Lewisville is now 1-1. Great Falls is now 0-3.
“I just can’t say it enough,” Mitchell said. “It was a real team victory.”
Notable: Jayden Barnes, Christien Yoder
Barnes’ fingerprints are found on most of Lewisville’s big plays on Friday night.
In the game’s opening kickoff, Lewisville kicker Tyler Wilson pooched a perfectly-placed kick about 20 yards downfield — and it hit the ground, took an elusive bounce and Barnes recovered the ball to give Lewisville an unexpected early possession.
Barnes also made the aforementioned touchdown catch and extended Lion drives throughout the second half.
The senior finished with 146 yards rushing and 66 yards receiving for one touchdown.
Barnes’ performance was buoyed by solid play from quarterback Christien Yoder — who threw for 87 yards, a touchdown and an interception — and Deven McCrorey, who ran for 31 yards.
Lewisville travels to Lamar next Friday, and Great Falls plays McBee at home.
Quotable: ‘Last time’
Mitchell on Lewisville’s youth: “We had a couple of inopportune cramps. We’re missing Isaac Faulkenberry, who’s one of our best offensive linemen. In the fourth quarter, we had four freshmen on the offensive line. Those kids were playing for Lewisville Middle School last year.”
Barnes on playing in his final game against Great Falls: “I don’t even know how to explain it right now. It’s emotional. This is the last time I’ll ever suit up against Great Falls, and we came out here, and we showed them.”
This story was originally published October 9, 2020 at 11:05 PM.
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