Posted on 10/04/2012 2:19:10 PM PDT by Lmo56
"Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory" is a fairly commonplace turn of phrase juxtaposing a traditional aphorism and turning it on its head. Still, rarely has that been a more apt summation of a series of events than the final play of a North Carolina football game you see below.
The two teams involved in this debacle/miracle are Topsail (N.C.) High and East Duplin (N.C.) High, where the highly ranked East Duplin Panthers emerged with a 26-21, final-play victory thanks to the simple fact that they played to the whistle. Trailing 21-20 with fewer than 5 seconds to play, East Duplin lined up for a potential game-winning field goal.
Unfortunately for the Panthers, that attempt was swatted aside by the Topsail defensive line, sending the visiting Pirates into a rash of celebratory delirium. There was just one problem: They forgot to touch the ball to down it after the block.
Normally that wouldn't have been necessary, but this time the block landed behind the line of scrimmage, meaning that the thwarted kick was still a live ball.
That meant that while Pirates players swarmed on to the field to celebrate what they assumed was an unlikely victory, the game was still technically alive. East Duplin's Montrell Stallings swopped in to scoop up the ball and take it to the end zone, creating the rather unique scenario of having two different teams celebrating one victory that each thought it had earned.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.yahoo.com ...
Although, it makes a GREAT analogy for the election ...
DEMS celebrating 2 weeks ago [the election is over !!!] ...
Romney running the ball into the end zone last night for a TD !!!
Let’s not celebrate just yet. There is still a month to go and a lot of close congressional races.
Well “Golly Opie, Shazam”. What can one expect from North Carolina. Wonder if Barney Fife and Goober were at the game. Judy, Judy, Judy.................
Didn’t mean to imply that Romney will win - just that the DEMS have been high-fiving themselves for weeks and dropped the football ...
When I played HS football I was the “go straight to the ball” gay on kickoffs. On one kickoff, the return guy must have got confused cause he never bothered to pick up the ball and down it - he played it like a punt and just watched it roll to about the five. I picked it up with him just standing there watching and basically walked into the endzone. It was like the world’s longest on-sides kick.
-PJ
Did rthe replacement NFL refs officiated this game??
Montrell Stallings exhibited great situational awareness. Bravo Zulu! And a hat tip to his coaches.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.