Evans High's football season ended in less than 120 seconds Friday.
The Knights fell 18-14 at Ware County and were bounced in the first round of the Class AAAA playoffs. The Gator offense scored twice in the final two minutes to snatch the victory.
The first score brought them within two points of the lead. The second, with only 56 seconds remaining, gave them their first and only lead of the night.
"They never gave up, they just never gave up," Ware County coach Ed Dudley said.
Evans led 14-6 late in the third quarter after Jonathan Finch's second rushing touchdown of the night. Ware County cut Evans' lead to 14-12 when J'ontae Barkley scored on a 16-yard run with 1:54 to play.
On the ensuing kickoff, Evans turned the ball over on its first play from scrimmage when Finch fumbled. It was Evans' only turnover of the game.
Ware County capitalized, scoring on a 43-yard pass from Jimmy Wilkins to Barkley.
Finch led all rushers with 91 yards on 17 carries.
Evans finished the season with an 8-3 record.
Before the final two minutes, Ware County had only a pair of Zack Griffin field goals.
With six minutes left, the Gators moved from their own 29 to a touchdown in eight plays. Wilkins picked up 40 yards on the ground and 16 more through the air before sophomore Bernard Robertson weaved his way in from 16 yards out for the score. The Gators' two-point conversion attempt failed.
After Evans recovered an onside kick, Finch's fumble was recovered by Ware County at the Gator's 44-yard line.
With first-and-10 on the Evans 43, Wilkins took the snap and rolled right, dodging three incoming Knights before he threw the ball to Rick Taylor streaking down the sideline for the winning score.
Evans drove from its own 40 to have a first down on Ware's 24 with 25 seconds left. But the Knights' chance ended on a fourth-down interception.
Ware fumbled the ball away on its first two possessions. The second led to the Knights' first touchdown, a 10-yard run by Finch with 3:38 remaining in the first quarter.
The Gators committed four turnovers in the first half, five in the game.
Larry Purdom, a correspondent for the Waycross Journal-Herald, contributed to this report.
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