The game tied 42-42 in the fourth overtime period, Phil Campbell head coach Jacob Hamilton called a timeout. The Bobcats, having just scored the game-tying touchdown thanks to a scrambling Hayston Scott, needed just three yards for the two-point conversion and Phil Campbell’s first win of the 2024 campaign. Hamilton—calm and confident—had the simplest of instructions for his offense.
“I looked at Johan Vasquez and I looked at Logan Wright, my left guard and my left tackle, and I told them, ‘I don’t care what they line up in, I don’t care what front they’re in, I don’t care what happens; I need three yards and we’re running it through you and you,’” Hamilton narrated. “Then I looked at Noah Raper and I told him, ‘I’m giving you the ball and you’re going to get three yards and win this game for us.’
“They told me ‘yes, sir,’ and then Johan Vasquez and Logan Wright blew them off the ball and Noah walks into the endzone for the two and we start celebrating,” Hamilton added. “The crowd was nuts, the student section was very loud, and it was just a great, great environment. It was fun being a Phil Campbell Bobcat (Friday) night.”
Just looking at the final 44-42 scoreline, it might be hard to believe Phil Campbell (1-1, 1-0) was down 8-0 to the visiting Vinemont Eagles (2-1, 0-1) at halftime.
“We only got the ball twice in the first half,” Hamilton said. “They played keep-away with the ball and (Vinemont’s) gameplan worked tremendously.
“We were playing well defensively, but they were just milking clock, milking clock and we couldn’t get it in the endzone in the limited possessions we had in the first half,” he added.
Things turned around in the second half, however, and the Bobcats were able to get on the scoreboard off the back of two big plays. The first was a long touchdown run by senior Hayden Wingo.
“We adjusted to how (Vinemont) was playing against us at halftime,” Hamilton said. “We caught a break. I think we had a good play called, and Hayden Wingo breaks one for 91 yards.”
After the failed two-point conversion it was 8-6 and PCHS still trailed, but the opening touchdown rejuvenated the Bobcats, who started to get into a rhythm offensively.
“Once we got that first one in, we were rolling. We had our confidence back, and then we started moving the ball on them,” Hamilton said.
The Eagles answered with a touchdown drive of their own to make it 14-6, but Hamilton said there was never any doubt his team would tie it up. With less than a minute remaining, they did.
“We drive down and we’re feeling confident. I was calm the entire time because I was confident we would tie it up,” Hamilton said. “We hit Hagen Raper on a post route for about 40 yards to score with 59 seconds left and then we got the two to tie it.”
The comeback completed, Phil Campbell’s next task was to overcome the opposition in overtime. Not once, Hamilton said, did he or his team have any doubts they would come out on the other side victorious.
“Going into overtime we were still extremely confident,” he said. “At one point we had a third and goal from like the nine or ten and I was never worried and the kids weren’t either. We had two third downs where we weren’t up there close to (the line to gain), but we found a way to make it happen.
“The kids never gave up and once we got that rhythm going we were extremely confident we were going to win,” Hamilton added.
It was a back-and-forth affair in overtime with both Phil Campbell and Vinemont swapping blow for blow. For the Bobcats it was the quarterback Scott, who, time after time, made plays to get the hosts on the board. The sophomore accounted for all four of the Bobcats’ OT touchdowns, passing for one and rushing for the other three.
“That’s stepping up in the clutch,” Hamilton said of Scott’s performance. “When the game’s on the line he wants the ball in his hands and you want to put the ball in his hands because you know he can make plays. It was a big, big game for him.”
In the fourth overtime period, like they did so many times in regulation, the Bobcat defense stepped up, too. Vinemont scored to make it 42-36, but Phil Campbell halted the Eagles from converting their two-point try, keeping the deficit at six points.
“I had my offensive lineman Johan Vasquez, before he went out to play on defense (in the fourth overtime), tell me, ‘Next time we score, run it behind me.’ That was before (Vinemont) had even scored. He just knew we were going to score again,” Hamilton said. “When we got the stop on the two, we knew. We knew we were going to score and we knew we were going to get the two and win.”
The rest, as they say, is history. Raper, after Scott’s equalizing touchdown rush, took the hand off from his young quarterback and followed right behind his fellow seniors Vasquez and Wright to punch it in from three yards for the win. The players on the field and the fans in the crowd went wild, and Hamilton, his team having come from behind to get their first win of the season in thrilling fashion, reflected on the fight and determination of his players and what the victory means for his program.
“We were down the entire game. The entire game we were behind. Our kids never gave up and we never had any doubts,” he said. “Getting this win, I think it says we’re not just here to compete in this region, we’re here to win.
“Going into the next one, it’s going to be the same mentality. There’s no slowing down,” he added. “We improved drastically from our previous outing, and it’s a credit to my coaching staff and our kids for making the changes and making the adjustments.
“This was a great team win, a great team win. I could shout out certain kids, but this was a true team win, a total team win.”
Phil Campbell travels to Oakman for its next region game on Friday, September 13th.
Commenting on this story has been disabled.
