Jacob Beck took a punt return to the house early in the fourth quarter to give Stroud a lead and Aiden Collins intercepted a pass late in the quarter to protect it, leading the Tigers to an 18-13 win over Tonkawa Friday.
It was the Tigers’second win in a row over a Class A power and sends them into district play with a 2-1 record.
They travel to Kellyville Friday night. “Iwasproudofourkids,”StroudcoachJoshPresley said. “We had a lot of them in there that stepped up.
“There were a lot of new guys and young guys who stepped up and played bigger roles.”
Tonkawa was up, 13-12, early in the fourth quarter when Beck fielded a punt at midfield. He appeared to be stopped twice, but shook off the would-be tacklers, broke to the left sideline and outran the defense to the end zone.
That put the Tigers ahead by five and Stroud turned away Tonkawa’s last scoring threat when Collins made the pick on a third-and-20 play with three minutes to go.
“Tough games build character,” Presley said. “The past two games, we’ve been down at halftime and came back to find a way to win.
“I was so proud of them. At first, the ball bounced some funny ways, but they kept plugging away and found a way to win.”
Quarterback Jeremiah Cropp completed nine of The Lions came back to score again on 4th-and-11 pass from Clayton Ritchie to Chace Buchanan, who made a twisting catch and landed just inside the pylon.
The Lions had a chance to blow the lid off after Peyton Arms recovered a fumble on the kickoff, but they fumbled, too, and Clinton recovered on the 6.
Chandler took its 12-0 lead into the locker room at the half, but that changed quickly after intermission when Wade ran 73 yards to the Clinton 1. Ritchie carried it over from there and then hit Darius Wade for a two-point conversion, making it 20-0 with 8:42 left in the third quarter.
Clinton’s Jaden Potter gave the Tornadoes their only score of the night when he cut back for a 6-yard touchdown run.
Chandler answered quickly, getting a score on a 15-yard throw from Clayton Ritchie to Coniah Ritchie with 3:33 left in the third.
The Lions’ final score came when Bryson Taylor intercepted a pass and took it to the Clinton 29 early in the fourth quarter.
They were in the end zone a couple of minutes later when Ritchie took it 15 yards on a designed run, making it 32-7 We got a ton of penalties - we have to clean that up.