Monday night’s football game between Pompano Blanche Ely Tigers and Boyd Anderson Cobras, was a prime example of the cliché “Its Not Over Until Its Over.” The Tigers had a convincing 19-point lead for three quarters to see it all vanish in the fourth.

Boyd Anderson’s first year head coach, Lawal McCray, stated “Ely took advantage of our lack of focus in the first half. Also, the weather got us mentally down and we came out flat. I told the team at halftime, we must raise our intensity in the second half or we will be embarrassed at home.”

The Tigers struck first, after a scoreless first quarter, with a 52-yard pass from Travis Standley, 6’1 senior quarterback, to Avery Holley, 6’0 senior wide receiver, for a Tiger 6-0 lead. After another Cobra turnover, the Tigers drove the ball deep into Cobra’s territory as the Tigers scored their second touchdown of the night with a three-yard pass from Standley to Rodney Lovett, 5’9 senior running back, in the corner of the end zone. This increase the Tigers score 12-0.

Avery Holley scored his second touchdown of the game with an 18-yard pass from Standley to put the Tigers up 19-0 at the half.

The Cobras looked sloppy and confused in the first three quarters with three fumbles and an interception. However, the fourth quarter belonged solely to the Cobras. At the start of the fourth quarter, Boyd Anderson running back Jamar Dukes scored a 21-yard touchdown up the middle to put the Cobras on the board.

“When you give a team hope they will eventually respond. That’s what happened after they (Cobras) scored their first touchdown. They grabbed momentum and pulled it with them for the win,” said Blanche Ely’s first year head coach Greg McGirt.

The next possession, the Tigers fumbled deep in their own territory giving the Cobras great field position at the two-yard line. One play later, the Cobras closed the gap making the score 19-12 with a two-yard run by Rithner Jean-Bapitiste 5’10 senior running back.

With 6:50 remaining in the fourth quarter trailing 19-12, the Cobras closed within one when Joey Lee, 5’6 135-pound running back, blocked a punt and returned it for a ten-yard touchdown.

“Literally that’s all I do, watch and study my opponents kicking game. I practice blocking punts and field goals in practice all the time. Watching film on Ely’s punter, I noticed the stutter steps he takes before kicking the ball,” said Lee.

After Lee’s electrifying block and score, Jamar Dukes sealed the deal with a crucial two-point conversion score off the right guard increasing the Cobras’ score 20-19. The Cobras scored 20 unanswered points in five minutes of the final quarter.

On Ely’s final drive, the ball was snapped over Standley’s head twice. The second miscue lead to a safety as the ball was snapped out of the Tigers’ end zone for a Cobras’ 22-19 lead with 1:01 remaining in the game.

Cobra’s quarterback, Herb Bynes, completed 9-19 for 115 yards with one interception. “We mess up everything in the first half and we as a team decided we work to hard to go out like that. We picked up the intensity the second half and finished the game strong,” said Bynes.