It was a call that will go down as part of the lore of the Chandler-Stroud rivalry.
Chandler had led the entire game Friday night, but was backed up on a fourth-and-long from the 17 with 57.8 seconds left in the game.
Instead of the expected punt, the Lions called for quarterback Clayton Ritchie to take the snap, run to the end zone and scamper around for as long as possible before being tackled for a safety.
It worked. Ritchie bled 13.5 seconds off, the Lions kicked off on their free kick to just beyond mid-field and held on for the win.
The safety made the score 13-8, but the Lions got to kick off without the pressure of a punt rush or the risk of bad kick or a miscue.
“I was thinking a punt might get blocked,” said Chandler coach Jack Gray. “We didn’t have our deep snapper because Sam Hall was out. I figured if we’re going to move them down the field, we’d better take a safety and free-kick the ball.
“Make them go down a further field with the time left.”
The win comes after a 21-14 Stroud win a year ago and marked the third straight the visiting team has won the rivalry.
For Stroud, the post-game message was “Keep your heads up,” coach Josh Presley said.
“We have a young team. Our better days are ahead of us, and we knew that,” Presley said. “In small school football when you get a couple of guys dinged up and have some younger guys going in with a lack of experience, sometimes that shows.
“The biggest thing I was proud of is they never quit fighting. It was a five-point game at the end of the day.
“Chandler is a good football team and we’ll be just fine. We’ll regroup and get after Pawnee next week.”
The Tigers travel to Pawnee on Friday for their second game while Chandler heads the opposite direction, going to Carter County to face Lone Grove.
Both games kick off at 7 p.m.
Chandler struck first against Stroud, scoring on a 4-yard run by Chase Buchanan with 3:56 left in the first period.
Levi Becktol kicked the point, making it 7-0.
The teams swapped turnovers the rest of the quarter.
Javarous Wade ran 5 yards for another touchdown with 2:06 left in the third.Amisfire on the pointafter kick left it 13-0 at the end of third.
Jacob Beck closed the gap for Stroud to 13-6 with a 2-yard run early in the fourth period, but the Tigers came up short on try for two.
Stroud threatened again on its next possession, starting on the Chandler 39 after a punt, but couldn’t convert a fourth down play later at the Lions’ 29.
Chandler couldn’t move the ball, either, and faced a fourth down on its own 17 with just under a minute to play.
That set up the safety, which made it 13-8 and set up the Lions’ final kick and Stroud’s possession.
Stroud appeared to have a shot when Jessen Leathers broke a couple of tackles and ran to the Chandler 24, but it was called back because of a penalty and the Tigers possession died on two incomplete passes with less than five seconds to go.
Chandler went in to the victory formation for its last snap to seal the win.
“I’m really happy,” Gray said. “We had a lot of guys cramping tonight.
“They hit us hard and we had a lot of guys show some toughness. We had guys we had to stick in certain positions because we had guys down.
“Darius Wade had to go to one side of the ball, Coniah Ritchie, Sam Hall were out, so we had to have some guys step in and play well on both sides of the ball.”
“Stroud’s the same way - when you’re practicing during the week, you can’t get everyone in going both ways and there’s only so much time for practice.
“Sothoseguyshave to focused on film and watchtheguysinfront of them to see what they’re doing.
“That was good to see, for guys to step in to what they were doing and be physical.”
For Stroud, the situation was much the same.
“We made a few mistakes here and there,” Presley said. “You have to get that experience.”