NACOGDOCHES —  In a game that begin on Friday night and ended early Saturday morning, at 12:54 a.m. to b exact, the Jacksonville Indians clinched a playoff spot by outlasting Nacogdoches 84-81 in 12 overtime periods on a chilly evening/morning at Dragon Stadium.

For the record, the contest set a new-national record for the longest (number of overtime periods) high school football game to ever be played in America.

The previous record — nine extra frames — was first set in 1977 when Detroit, Mich. Southeast beat Detroit, Mich. Northeast 42-36 and was duplicated in 2006 when Bothel, Wash. needed nine overtime rounds to slip past Pasco, Wash 43-40, according to Dave Krider of Maxpreps, who is considered to be one of the foremost authorities on high school sports in the country.

The Tribe’s win finally came when sophomore Rodrigo Carreon booted through a 19-yard field goal from straight away out of senior Dylan Hanna’s hold.

Nacogdoches got first crack at the end zone in the 12th OT segment and moved the ball from the 25-yard line (the spot the ball is placed on in overtime) down to the 7-yard line, but that’s when the Indians received their biggest defensive effort of the game.

Londedrick Taylor came in and stripped Dragon quarterback Jacob Howard of the ball as he was falling to the ground near the sidelines and Bryson Haywood instinctively picked the ball up for the fumble recovery, which snuffed out the Dragon scoring attempt.

To get into to prime field goal range, Jacksonville dug deep into its bag of tricks and dusted off the wildcat formation which allowed Tevin Garland to pick up 17 yards after taking the direct snap from center on the first play of the drive.

The Dragons appeared to be confused on how to line up defensively, with the Tribe’s quarterback Ryan Black lining up as a slot receiver on the left side.

Garland picked up 21 of the Indians’ 23 yards on the abbreviated march.

Jacksonville (7-2, 6-1 in District 14-4A) earned a spot into the upcoming state playoffs with the victory, while the Dragons (3-6, 2-5) saw their playoff hopes come to an end with the defeat.

Nacogdoches not only had to beat the Tribe to stay in the playoff chase, but had to win by at least eight points according to the district’s tie-breaker rules, to have any shot at extending their season past this week.

The eight-point differential affected the Dragon coaching staff’s decision making processes in OT as Nacogdoches intentionally botched three conversion attempts and allowed Jacksonville to score at least three uncontested touchdowns in OT by bypassing the chance to win the game in favor of keeping alive post-season hopes by playing for a win of at least eight points.

Nacogdoches also kicked a field goal in the ninth OT frame to tie Jacksonville,as opposed to trying for the touchdown and not winning by the needed margin of victory.

A relieved Jacksonville head coach Steve Wells, who said he had been a part of a three-OT games while coaching at Hooks High School, said following the game that he was pleased at how his team refused to conceed defeat in the marathon battle.

“The thing about our kids was that we were able to persevere,” he said. “We had several chances to take a knee and still be able to go to the playoffs, but our kids have wanted all along to be in a position to play for the district championship when it gets to the last game of the season against John Tyler (Friday night at 7:30 p.m. in the Tomato Bowl) and because of that they (the players) made the decision to keep on trying to win he football game and get both the win here and the chance to play for the title (this) week.

“That’s why we made the decisions we did and that’s whey we kept the fans in the stands so long.”

The game was tied at 28 at the end of regulation as Jacksonville jumped on the host fire breathers early, getting 4-yard runs by Garland and Ryan Black, respectively, to take a 14-7 lead after one period.

The Indians led 28-14 at the break as Jacksonville scored a second-period touchdowns on a 33-yard pass play from Ryan Black to Andrew Black and added six-more points when Londedrick Taylor picked off a Dragon pass and returned down the Nacogdoches sidelines for a 53-yard touchdown. Taylor had two interceptions in the contest.

Credit the Nacogdoches defense with a strong effort in the second half as the Dragons held the Tribe scoreless while the Nacogdoches offense added a touchdown in both the third and fourth stanzas to send things into the extended play mode.

Offensive players of impact for the Tribe were Ryan Black (19-39-1 — 297 yards, 4 TDs, 1 Int.) and Jonathan Session who scored three rushing touchdowns while carrying 40 times for 193 yards.

Garland led the Indians in receiving, bringing in four passes for 91 yards and scoring a rushing and a receiving touchdown. He also chipped in 45 ards of rushing.

Nacogdoches’ Damion Johnson led all players with 255 yards on 21 scampers and five touchdowns.

Arsenio Hall was the game’s leading receiver, reeling in 11 passes for 158 yards and scoring one TD for the Dragons.

The two teams combines for 1,327 yards of total offense — Nacogdoches amassed 725 yards while the Indians were good for 602 yards.

With the wins, the Indians shook off a label of being more about good luck and good fortune thatn playing solid football.

Despite having two district wins by one point and the other a three-point win prior to Friday, Jacksonville proved that it can also win football games in other ways.

“Not by luck and not by chance was this game decided,” Wells said to his exhausted group of warriors in the post-game pow wow. “Our kids just did the best job at persevering and (in) coming out on top. This one wasn’t about luck.”

Jacksonville 84

Nacogdoches 81 (12-OT)



JHS    14    14    0    0    6    6    0    6    6        6    6    8    3    0    6    3    —84

NHS    7    7    7    7    6    6    0    6    6        6    6    8    3    0    6    0    —81



Scoring Summary

First Quarter

J-Tevin Garland 4 run (Rodrigo Carreon kick), 10:28

J-Ryan Black 4 run (Carreon kick), 9:18

N-Bubba Johnson 1 run (Austin Davis kick), 3:42



Second Quarter

N-Damion Johnson 43 run (Davis kick), 9:55

J-Andrew Black 33 pass from Ryan Black (Carreon kick), 7:13

J-Londedrick Taylor 53 interception return (Carreon kick), 2:08



Third Quarter

N-Jacob Howard 2 run (Davis kick), 8:39



Fourth Quarter

N-Michael Dove 8 pass from Howard (Davis kick), 8:11



OT1

J-Jonathan Session 8 run (run failed)

N-Johnson 20 run (conversion failed)



OT2

N-Dove 7 pass from Howard (kick failed)

J-Ryan Black 2 run (kick failed)



OT4

N-Dove 4 pass from Howard (pass failed)

J-Daryl Minifee 25 pass from Ryan Black (pass failed)



OT5

J- J. Session 11 run (run failed)

N-Johnson 5 run (pass failed)



OT6

N-Johnson 3 run (pass failed)

J-Minifee 25 run (pass failed)



OT7

N-Johnson 20 run (run failed)

J- J. Session 25 run (kick failed)



OT8

N-Howard 5 run (Johnson pass from Howard)

J-Minifee 12 pass (J. Session run)



OT9

J-Carreon 31 field goal

N-Davis 25 field goal



OT 11

J-Garland 25 pass from Ryan Black (run failed)

N-Arsenio Hall 30 pass from Howard (pass failed)



OT12

J-Carreon 19 field goal



Team Statistics

            JHS        NHS

First Downs        32        33

Rushes-Yards        73-305        59-415

Passing Yards        297        310

Comp./Att./Int.        19-40-1        25-47-6

Total Yards        602        725

Punts            6/28.3        0/0

Penalties/Yards        17-148        7-65

Fum.-Lost        4-1        6-5



Individual Statistics

Rushing — J-Jonathan Session 40-193, Ryan Black 11-56, Tevin Garland 8-36, Austin Gipson 4-20; N-Damion Johnson 21-255, Jacob Howard 10-88, Bubba Johnson 17-71.

Passing — J-R. Black 19-39-1 — 297, Andrew Black 0-1-0 — 0; N-Howard 20-35-5 — 252, Johnson 5-11-0 — 58, Arsenio Hall 0-1-1 — 0.     

Receiving — J-Garland 4-91, J. Session 6-75, Ladarius Session 4-59, Daryl Minifee 2-30, A. Black 3-42; N-Hall 11-158, Michael Dove 6-62, Johnson 5-51, Chandler Hamilton 1-15, Cole Banner 1-9, Howard 1-15.