Rebels Put out Dragons’ Fire.

The Pickens High School Dragons snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in the final second when Fannin Rebel, Brandon Minter, caught Trevor Stone’s Hail Mary pass with no time left on the clock to pull within one point of the home team. Blake Henry’s rushing score on the two point conversion gave the Rebels the 29-28 victory and extinguished the Dragons’ fire.The Dragons’ first deficit came with a hair’s breath under six minutes left in the first quarter, when Henry scored a touchdown on the ground. The successful point after attempt put the visitors up 7-0.

After the two teams traded possessions, the Dragons’ Shannon Brooks broke two long runs, putting Pickens in scoring position. He eventually tied the game with a one yard touchdown run.

On the ensuing possession the Rebels scored on fourth and 20 when quarterback, Trevor Stone, connected with Minter in the end zone with two Dragon defenders breathing fire down Minter’s neck. The successful point after gave Fannin a 14-7 lead.

Pickens picked up right where it left off, driving down the field, to the Rebels’ one yard line; however, a Fannin fumble recovery, courtesy of Henry, halted the Dragon drive. The half ended with the Rebels still leading by seven.

Peyton Satterfield’s opening second half kick off return to the Rebels’ 48 yard line gave the Fannin fantastic field position. The Rebels capitalized on the field position a few plays later when, Henry scored on a sweep off the right side, giving Fannin a 21-7 lead, with 7:38 left in the third quarter.

The Dragons got hot in the on the legs of Brooks, who had over 200 yards on the day. With just over five minutes left in the third, Brooks broke loose on a 56 yard scamper. Titus Henderson missed the extra point, making the score 21-13 in Fannin’s favor.

The Dragon defense forced a Fannin fumble on the ensuing drive with just under four minutes left in the third. The fumble, recovered by Ryan Neill, led to tie game due to the fact that, on the very next play, Brown broke a 55 yard touchdown run. The successful two point conversion tied the game at 21-21.

The Dragons first forced a Fannin deficit via another Brooks rushing touchdown, with just over six minutes left in the game. Fannin failed to answer, and the Dragons took over with 57 seconds left game.

With the Dragons in victory formation, the Fannin faithful began to lose hope. However, Pickens failed to run all the seconds off the clock. Stone connected with Minter again, and the Rebels rallied with Henry’s score on the two point conversion securing the 29-28 Fannin victory, and drowning the Dragons’ dreams of victory.