The Lincoln County Red Devils have won 14 state titles, while Wesleyan had not been to the state quarterfinals prior to this season. But on Friday night, it was the Wolves who looked like the traditional power.
Wesleyan caused two crucial turnovers and used a balanced offense to knock off the No. 2-ranked Red Devils on a frigid Friday night at Henderson Stadium in Norcross. Junior quarterback Conor Welton threw three touchdown passes while Daniel Cardwell caught a touchdown and made the game-clinching interception with under two minutes left.
Legendary Lincoln Co. head coach Larry Campbell, who leads the state in all-time wins with 426, will have to wait until next year for another chance to win his 12th state championship. Meanwhile, Wolves’ head coach Franklin Pridgen was elated with his first state finals appearance ever.
“It’s incredibly special. I’m a bit speechless right now,” explained an emotional Pridgen. “It means a tremendous amount to this school. We’ve never done this before. It really means more to not just our school, our administration, our faculty and our kids, but to our parent body, our friends of the program. We have an awful lot of people who pray for us and support us and encourage us and I’m glad that they get to enjoy this as much as we do.”
Welton made several key plays on third and fourth down while leading the Wolves to three touchdown drives. Among them was a crucial third-and-8 conversion, when Welton scrambled and completed a seemingly miraculous pass down the sideline to wide receiver Brent Pugh, who was triple covered. The play went for 24 yards and capped a 10-play, 72-yard touchdown drive to start the second half and give the Wolves a 13-6 lead, their first of the game.
“That definitely set the tone for the second half,” said Welton. “It was a big play for us and gave us a lot of momentum.”
Welton ended the game with 162 yards on 16-of-24 passing along with touchdown tosses of 6, 20, and 13 yards.
The Wolves evened things up in the first half with an epic 19-play, 80-yard scoring drive that culminated with a 6-yard Welton pass to Anderson Porter.
The Red Devils had taken the lead in the first quarter on a 76-yard run by star junior running back A.G. Middlebrooks.
After the Wolves took the lead to start the second half, Lincoln County drew to within one after a 22-yard touchdown jaunt by running back Jafabian Green on fourth-and-1. The Red Devils, who had missed an extra point and field goal earlier in the game, elected to go for two and the lead, but Green was stopped just inches away from the end zone.
Midway through the fourth quarter, Welton again led his troops on a touchdown drive, this one covering 63 yards in eight plays. On fourth down from the Red Devil 14, Welton hit Cardwell on a short pass that Cardwell took in for six.
The Wolves defense caused two turnovers in the final three minutes to clinch the shocking upset.
Despite the Red Devils’ rich tradition and talented roster, Pridgen knew his No. 10-ranked Wolves could pull the upset.
“I thought we would have a chance to win,” declared the proud coach. “I knew they weren’t a better football team. I know they’ve got great tradition but I knew that our kids were going to show up on our field. I also knew that they were incredibly potent on offense and stingy on defense, but I just felt like our kids were ready for this game.”
Next up for the Cinderella Wolves is No. 1-ranked Emanuel County Institute, a team that has not lost since a Nov. 17 playoff game in 2006. Since then, the Bulldogs have won 29 in a row as well as last year’s state title.
“I’m not about to put anything past the Wesleyan Wolves,” said Pridgen, “and I’m sure ECI’s a fantastic football team and I know they’re well-coached and I know they’ve got a great running game and I’ve heard all about them. And nobody knows anything about us, but we will be ready to play.”
Black can be reached at sblack@scoreatl.com.
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