A record-breaking night in Alabama ended with a Hail Mary win Friday as
Ohatchee (Ala.) beat
New Hope (Ala.) 76-71 as quarterback
Jake Roberson found Brayden Collins for a 37-yard score with no time on the clock.
Roberson heaved the ball to the near side right at the goal line as two receivers and two defenders battled for the ball. The pass was tipped up and Collins came away with the rock and the victory.
Watch the thrilling final play in the video above.New Hope trailed 70-56 with less than three minutes in the game, scoring 15 straight to take the one-point lead.
"Obviously, I've never been part of anything like that before," Ohatchee coach Chris Findley
told AL.com. "We obviously played really well offensively, really bad defensively, and they can probably say the same. It was up and down. I'm really pleased with the offense, and I'm like, ‘Man, we've got to fix some stuff on defense.'"
The visitors (both teams are the Indians) found the end zone on a 40-plus yard run-and-catch before recovering the onside kick. Sophomore quarterback
Lucas Terry then engineered a hurry-up score, capped with a 10-yard run by
Layton Pohl and the two-point conversion for the 71-70 lead with 1:08 left.
Ohatchee took over on their own 25 with 1:03 remaining.
Roberson found Collins for 18 yards on third-and-10 to move the sticks with 40.6 left. Another pass to Byers moved Ohatchee into New Hope territory as the clock spun under 30 seconds.
A deep ball fell incomplete with 11.5 seconds left and Ohatchee facing second-and-10 from the 47. A delay penalty moved the ball back into Ohatchee territory before Roberson hit a wide open
Colby Hester, who stepped out at the 37 and set up the final play.
The 147 combined points were a non-overtime Alabama record according to the AHSAA online record book. The only game with more points was Central-Hayneville beating Billingsley 78-72 in triple-overtime.
