Brookland-Cayce looked dominant midway through their 41-35 win Oct. 13 but nearly blew the game in the second half, allowing Dreher to come back from 21 points down and force overtime.

The Bearcats jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the second quarter before the Blue Devils scored their first touchdown with two minutes left before the break. 

Brookland-Cayce regained a three-possession lead at the start of the third quarter taking a pick-six to the endzone. But from there Dreher took over, outscoring Brookland-Cayce 28-7 throughout the rest of regulation, including a game-tying touchdown in the fourth quarter with 0.7 seconds left on the clock. 

“They had a lot of help. I'll just put it that way,” Bearcats head coach Rusty Charpia said. “We're going to put the game away in the first half. It's obvious they can't stop us, but just every time we had a big gain, they’re pulling it back. I'll look at the film and we'll see what was going on.”

Dreher had the momentum heading into overtime, but Brookland-Cayce prevented the comeback thanks to strong defense, setting up a Will Young game-winner.

Young put the team on his back, playing all three phases of the game and rushing for 238 yards on 36 carries. 

“I think he's the best athlete in the Columbia area, no doubt about it,” Charpia said. “He needs to fine-tune some things, but if you check his hips, the way he can flip them, his straight-A speed and the way he can make people miss, he's a division one wide receiver, cornerback.”

Young scored four touchdowns in the game, including one near the end of regulation to take the lead and the final one from two yards to seal the overtime victory.

“It's time to go home,” Young said after scoring the game-winning touchdown. “Long game, my boys, we fought to the end, we ready to get out of here.”

The Bearcats’ strategy from the jump was to get Young the ball. He took 14 touches in the opening period and scored both of the team’s first-quarter touchdowns on the ground. 

“I got a great offensive line,” Young said. “I got a coach that trusts me running behind them, and they just make it easier for me to do what I do.”

To this point, the Bearcats showed no interest in developing a passing game. The team’s first throw came almost four minutes into the second quarter. 

The team then threw another pass on the next play which turned into six points after Brogan Sox threw a dart to John Allen Mower in the endzone.

Things were looking good for the Bearcats and it seemed this game would be decided before it ended. But after regaining a three-possession lead in the third quarter, the team’s momentum started to disintegrate. 

Brookland-Cayce’s defense forced a turnover on downs and the offense came on the field looking to go up four possessions. Young made an uncharacteristic mistake and fumbled the ball, which was scooped up by Dreher’s defense for a touchdown. 

The Blue Devils shut down the Bearcat’s run game in the third quarter and cut the game to one possession three minutes into the final quarter. Luka Cruz passed for his first of two touchdowns, connecting on a 36-yard pass to Riley Croxton.

Disaster struck the Bearcats after they fumbled the ball away in enemy territory on the first play of the next drive. Dreher was now set up to tie the game with well over seven minutes to go. 

“It's a game of momentum,” Charpia said. “We fumbled the ball twice on two big runs. Next thing you know, we're in a dogfight.”

The tying blow came fast. Caleb Timmons powered into the endzone from the one and scored his only touchdown of the game.

Brookland-Cayce took its next possession and stuck to the ground game, putting together a long, clock-draining drive. The Bearcats took the ball into enemy territory and then things started getting tricky. 

After a few penalties and unimpressive runs, the Bearcats had the ball on a fourth down and eight from the enemy 36-yard line. Brookland-Cayce threw its sixth and final pass attempt of the game and converted on the fourth down with a 16-yard reception from their main weapon, Young. 

“Got to have that dog mentality,” Young said.

Four plays later the Bearcats regained their lead and had good odds to keep it with just over a minute left. However, Dreher did not give up on its comeback story. 

In less than 70 seconds, the Blue Devils tied the game in a drama-filled drive. 

After connecting on a few quick medium-distance passing plays, Dreher was in enemy territory. Then the game was almost sealed with an interception but it was ruled the defender was out of bounds. 

Dreher would soon face a fourth and 10 from the 15-yard line with 17 seconds left. The Blue Devils pass was incomplete but a flag for pass interference gave them another chance, this time on a fourth and three. 

The next pass also fell incomplete, but once again, there was a defensive penalty, this time for holding. 

With a fresh set of downs, Dreher had multiple shots to tie the game. In the final second of regulation, Cruz threw the ball to Dane Hamilton in one-on-one coverage. Hamilton jumped in the air and pulled it down through contact before being swarmed by teammates. 

“I was scared that they were going to go for two when he scored,” Charpia said. “Thank goodness he went and took it to overtime. But Cory and them did a very good job, and we were very fortunate to come out here with a win.”

Overtime did not go Dreher’s way at all. The team started on the enemy 10-yard line and had four downs to score. Instead, the team went backward every play after fumbling and recovering the ball on its first two plays. 

The possession ended on a third-down heave to the endzone that found the hands of a Brookland-Cayce defender.  On their possession, the Bearcats fed Young who fought through the defense and leaped into the endzone to end the game. 

The win improves Brookland-Cayce’s record to 6-2 on the year. They also improved to 3-0 in region play and are tied with Gilbert for first place. With two games left, including a match with Gilbert in the season finale on Oct. 27, Charpia said he wants his team to clean some things up.

“We’ve got to play better than tonight,” Charpia said. “Get a couple of our players back. I won't go into that, but we had a couple of guys suspended and injured … so hopefully they'll be back here soon.”

Brookland-Cayce will return to action next week to take on Swansea at home.