Sweet Water season ends in semifinal loss

SWEET WATER — Sweet Water’s Class 2A state title hopes came to an end Friday night as DeAnthony Holcombe scored four touchdowns to lead Washington County to a 28-14 semifinal victory.

With 6:52 remaining in the contest, Holcombe scored the backbreaking touchdown when he broke three backfield tackles and found his way to the sideline for a 63-yard scoring run to put his team up by 14.

“That run tonight, if that doesn’t epitomize what he has done all year and stood out and got the lead role,” Washington County coach Chris Wilson said. “Unbelievable run to seal this game and I can’t think of a better kid for it to happen to. Just great heart and great determination.”

Sweet Water would get two opportunities to answer, squandering the first one with picking up a first down before heaving a desperation throw with 1:39 to go that was picked off by Kerrigan Pennington to ice it.

Holcombe opened the scoring with a 6-yard run with only 43 seconds remaining in the first quarter. He found the end zone again on the next WCHS possession when he went 32 yards for a touchdown with 7:01 left until half.

When Tate Gibbs gave Sweet Water a chance with an interception in the closing moments of the first half, Holcombe snuffed out the opportunity with a pick of his own to send Washington County to the locker room with a 14-0 lead.

“It’s just unbelievable. They stepped up their game. Sweet Water is an outstanding team, very physical up front,” Wilson said of the performance of his offensive line, which led the way for a 287-yard team rushing performance. “We knew we had to answer the call to match up for what they do up front. For the most part, our guys did a great job limiting what they did on offense.”

Sweet Water put together its first sustained drive to open the third quarter, going 61 yards on 12 plays on a march that ended with a 12-yard Jakoby Aldridge scoring run.

Five plays later, Holcombe when 50 yards untouched up the middle to stretch the lead to 21-7 with 4:17 to go in the third quarter.

“They beat us at our own game,” said Sweet Water head coach Stacy Luker. “They beat us between the tackles. They’ve got a great football team. It was a physical game tonight.”

Sweet Water appeared poised to answer when Aldridge went 59 yards around the right side before Corey Donaldson took an angle that allowed him to catch up to the senior tailback 20 yards shy of the end zone. Sweet Water would later turn the ball over on downs.

After Kyle Patterson forced and recovered a fumble at the Washington County 30, Sweet Water cut the deficit to one score with a 5-yard Aldridge touchdown run with 7:14 to play.

Only 22 seconds later, Holcombe broke free for his fourth and final score of the night to put Sweet Water back in a two-touchdown hole.

“I think we came from nowhere to this point,” Luker said of his team’s 10-4 season. “You want to finish the deal and we’re not getting to finish it, but I’ve nothing but good things to say about this group of guys. They’ve played hard. They’ve done everything we’ve asked them.”

Holcombe ended his night with 226 yards on 26 carries. Aldridge carried 23 times for 157 yards to lead Sweet Water.

Washington County advances to the state finals for the second consecutive year where it will match up with Tanner.

“We’ve got to calm our nerves down some. We’ve got to play our kind of football. We’ve got to grind it out,” Wilson said of what must be different for his team in its return trip to the state championship round. “We’ve got to play Bulldog football like we did tonight. They stack the box and we still were able to run the football and make big plays. That’s what we have to be able to do.”