Photos by Theron Malone
Fatigued but relieved, Bartlett football coach Jeff McFerran had one objective the day after the Panthers’ third win: Hit the couch and watch three college football games.
“I am tired,” said McFerran. He was not alone.
In an emotional District 14-AAA game that turned on the last play of both halves, Bartlett held on to topple Cordova 34-29 on Friday at Cordova.
The Wolves tried to rally from an 11-point deficit with 46 seconds left to play after returning a fumbled quarterback sneak for a touchdown, recovering an onside kick and throwing four passes toward the end zone before an interception.
“Heartbreaking,” said Cordova defensive lineman Myron Henderson. “We could have pulled it through. It was a hard, tough game. I was just thinking get it to the end zone.”
In the same end zone that Bartlett’s Issiah Norman intercepted quarterback Devin Coleman in the end zone to seal the deal.
Bartlett quarterback Jonathan Bowlan, who rushed for a season-high 154 yards, was on his 12-yard line when he fumbled. Cordova cornerback Ahmad Richardson returned it for a touchdown with 46 seconds left.
“I don’t know how Jon-Jon dropped the ball on the quarterback sneak but somehow they scooped it up or caught it in the air and scored. I’ll have to see it on film,” said McFerran. “It is the craziest play I have ever seen in 25 years of coaching high school football. That was a shocker.”
Leading 34-23, Bartlett was trying to take 8-10 seconds off the clock to force Cordova to use their two time outs and to avoid a punt. McFerran instructed Bowlan to run the sneak.
“It was like the linemen didn’t fire off. He actually went past everybody, got into the linebackers and somehow lost the ball. All I wanted him to do was take it, slide right or left a little bit and kill some time. We could run out the clock. Maybe I overthought that,” said McFerran.
After Richardson scored, he made another heroic play. He recovered Cordova’s onside kick at the Bartlett 46-yard line. Coleman then threw a 23-yard pass to Kalan Miller, one of his eight receptions, to get to the Bartlett 23-yard line. Miller would finish with 126 yards.
There were 37 seconds left when Coleman tossed three incomplete passes. Staring at fourth down and 10 with 14 seconds left, Coleman made a last gasp toss.
“That was a scary moment,” said Bowlan. Then Norman intercepted.
“I read the quarterback eyes and I thought it was coming to me. I knew I was not going to drop it,” said Norman.
Cordova receiver Jacob Jacques, the son of Cordova assistant coach Robert Jacques, wanted to get open for the final play.
“Bartlett put their fastest player on me when I lined up. I had to give him moves. I was open but my quarterback didn’t see me. He actually threw a great ball to my player,” said Jacques, who finished with 83 yards on nine catches.
The loss left the Wolves 3-4, 1-2 in district and stunned Jacques. ‘It is the worst feeling I have ever had as much as I have been playing football. I know how much this counted for us and it hurt a lot,” he said.
Fighting for the playoffs for the second straight season, Cordova head coach Anthony Jones said, “We wanted to take a shot deep, which we did. We wanted to get the ball in the end zone. We couldn’t convert when it mattered the most.”
A sophomore, Coleman completed 23-of-39 passes for 293 yards, a season-high. “Devin played well enough for us to win the football game,” said Jones.
The challenges the Wolves have is to defeat three “very good” teams left on their schedule. The Wolves are open this Friday.
“We have to pick ourselves up and rebound and go play football again,” said Jones. “We have to prepare during the week and we have to present it on Friday night. We didn’t do it this week.”
With the Panthers improving to 3-3, 1-2 in district and hosting powerful Dyersburg this Friday, McFerran’s plan for the final series was to rush the quarterback.
“I told the defensive line to make a play, force that kid (Coleman) to throw the ball faster than he wanted to. It looked like he did,” said McFerrna. “He threw it up and we picked it. All wins are great. I think it is a good win from an adversity standpoint for us. It gives us confidence that we can still fight to keep in games and keep our heads up.”
Relishing the new offensive sets that were established during practice to allow him to run more, Bowlan rushed for more yards this season than before. “Probably in his whole life,” said McFerran.
Said Bowlan of his game-high yardage that came on 22 carries, “I just kept running as hard as I can. I didn’t care who was in my way. I was going to hit them and get as many yards as I can.”
Teammate Tyrone Cason had 122 yards rushing on 17 carries. Bartlett rushed for 341 yards.
“We executed very well,” said Bowlan. “When I fumbled, that got to me, but the defense did their job. I’m thankful for that.”
Committing to the run, McFerran said that his receivers have been struggling. “If receivers weren’t catching the ball quite as well, we were not going to throw as much even though Jon-Jon throws the really well. We were getting too many second-and-eight and if we threw it and dropped it, we were third-and-eight. That is a hard down to throw or run on, so I committed more to the run this week in practice and letting Jon-John run the ball. We spread the field a little more with another receiver instead of having a fullback.”
Bartlett took a 7-0 lead when Cason scored on a 4-yard run with 2:58 left in the first quarter. Manny Barrientos topped the 52-yard drive by kicking his first of four extra points.
Cordova running back Lavar Johnson had a season-high 152 rushing yards on 22 carries. Cordova rushed for a total 170 yards. Near the end of the first quarter he had three double-digit runs before the Wolves’ drive ended at the Bartlett 22-yard line.
Johnson’s 33-yard second quarter run got the Wolves to the Bartlett 25-yard line before Coleman threw a 25-yard pass to Edward Johnson, who finished with four receptions for 52 yards. Michael Merritt’s PAT tied it at seven.
The Wolves went ahead 14-7 when Lavar Johnson ran 14 yards for a touchdown with 5:50 left. When Bowlan completed his only pass of the game, a 30-yard touchdown to Eugene Ford, the Panthers tied it 14-14 with 52 seconds left in the second quarter.
“He made a big play,” said McFerran of Ford. “We ran a hinge route. The corner sat too long and didn’t catch his speed. He slipped inside and turned it and took straight off. I didn’t know that we wouldn’t have driven it and scored, but it was definitely a big moment.”
Another would soon follow. The Wolves drove 65 yards to the Bartlett five-yard line.
Coleman’s 24-yard pass to Edward Johnson got the Wolves to the Bartlett 30 before Johnson was later stopped on the 5 on the last play of the first half.
“I thought that was a huge play for us mentally. We have given up in five games, four touchdowns before half under 30 seconds left. We needed to make a stop, and we finally did. Those seven points ended up being the difference in the game,” said McFerran.
Another difference was Bartlett’s first drive of the second half that led to Cason scampering 33 yards for a touchdown and a 21-14 lead.
“I think that is what clicked and we went at it and had fun doing it,” said Bowlan.
A 78-yard touchdown run by Lavar Johnson got Cordova within 21-20 with 4:01 left in the third quarter. Then a 70-yard drive, zenithed by Bowlan’s 4-yard touchdown run gave the Panthers an 8-point lead, 28-20.
Merritt kicked a 30-yard field goal with 8:21 left to play and Cordova was within 28-23.
During the Panthers’ last touchdown drive, Bowlan had five rushes before LeMarcus Young scored from 4 yards out. Young rushed for 65 yards on 11 carries. Barrientos’ PAT provided the Panthers an 11-point cushion, 34-23.
Cordova running back Branden Wilks said, “We thought we could beat Bartlett. We watched film during the week and we practiced hard. My hopes were high (when Cordova recovered the onside kick). Then I saw the interception and I knew it was game over.”
Jacques was pleased that his team was “more riled up” in the second half. He told Coleman to keep his head up during Cordova’s final opportunity. “I think we could have played better, but we played our game in the second half compared to the first half. I know Bartlett was ready for anything.”
The Panthers were ready to face a young Cordova team, which operates from a spread offense and a 4-2-5 defense. “We are an extremely young football team,” said Jones.
McFerran said, “They are very consistent with who they are. They are a young team; they play hot at times. We knew it. We talked about it with Coach Jones.”
Said Jones, “They kept fighting, which was good.”
He was concerned about penalties that were momentum-stoppers. Both teams combined for 18 penalties.
Bowlan said that he was relieved to win.
“This is a great victory for our team. Overall we executed very well. Our running backs played both ways and they did their jobs on both sides of the ball.”
Dedicating the game to breast cancer awareness month, Cordova players wore pink socks, sleeves, gloves and undershirts.
“When coach told us that this was the only time we could wear pink, we had the mindset to play our hearts out for those who have cancer and for God,” said Jacques.
It was personal for Jones. His grandmother, Fannie Lawson, died of breast cancer when his mother was 12. When Jones became a head coach, he promised his mother, Priscilla Jones, that he would honor her mother through a dedicatory game.
Barlett was playing with heavy hearts. The father of freshman football player Michael Smith died the night before during surgery.
“We are trying to rally the family, who is new to Memphis. They have no other family in town. We talked about the importance of playing for one another and for Michael and his family,” said McFerran. “That was probably part of our momentum tonight.”
McFerran’s reward was seeing his team happy. “They feel like they are doing something. That is why I coach, to help your kids learn a lot of life lessons, become good men and good fathers and be successful in the work force. This is a big moment for them. Hopefully, we can build on it and talk about how it helps our character in life,” he said.
“The kids have a memory forever. This kind of game is about as crazy as it can get and we coming out on top is a great for them in life. I am just thrilled for them and for the program to be at .500 at this point and moving forward to the back half.”
Written by Bill Sorrell, special to the Express.
