CRESTVIEW — Clinging to an 8-7 lead late in the fourth quarter the Crestview football team simply needed a stop against District 2-6A foe Navarre on Friday.
The Raiders were facing a third-and-19 at their own 2-yard line and Jack Foster Stadium was a sea of excitement with two minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Down, but far from out, Raider quarterback Andrew Rieves hit Jordan Leggett with a 31-yard pass good for a first down. Five plays later Rieves connected with Gatlin Casey on a 20-yard scoring pass with 50 seconds left in the game to give Navarre a 13-8 win.
The touchdown pass to Casey capped a wild eight-play, 89-yard drive that started with Navarre going backwards nine yards before heading in the right direction.
Rieves was a perfect 6-of-6 on the drive for 98 yards.
Leggett had three catches for 55 yards on the winning drive and Casey had two grabs for 44 yards. The other pass, a flare to running back Jay Warren, lost a yard.
Crestview (3-5, 1-2) scored first on a 28-yard field goal by Austin Smith with 4:24 left in the first quarter.
The field goal had to seem like a consolation prize for the Bulldogs, who had the ball inside the Raider 20-yard line twice in the first six minutes of the game only to come away with the three points.
Early on it was Raiders hurting their own cause. A muffed punt by Warren gave the Bulldogs a first down deep in Navarre territory, but a long field goal attempt by Smith came up just short.
The next Navarre possession ended with Brandon Davis intercepting a Rieves pass. The Davis interception set up the Smith field goal
Navarre (6-1, 3-0) scored the game’s first touchdown less than 90 seconds into the second quarter when Rieves found Casey on a swing pass down the far sideline. Casey side stepped some would-be tacklers and tight roped his way 29 yards for his first score of the night. Chandler Moorer added the extra point as Navarre led 7-3.
Casey’s scoring pass was the longest play of the first half for the Raiders who had just 67 yards in total offense in the first half.
The score stayed 7-3 until midway through the third quarter when Smith hit his second field goal of the night with 5:47 left in the third quarter.
The Bulldog defense was hitting on all cylinders through most of the second half.
Crestview was playing field position football with tailback Micah Reed moving the sticks and the defense playing lights out.
With 8:19 left in the fourth quarter a Smith punt pinned the Raiders at their own 10. Four plays later, on fourth down, the long snap on a would be punt went through Leggett’s hands and out of the end zone for a Bulldog safety.
With 7:10 left in the game the Bulldogs led for the first time.
Crestview took the ensuing free kick and moved the ball to the Navarre 14.
Facing a fourth and six, Bulldog coach Kevin Pettis decided not to go for a field goal that would have put his team up by four points. Pettis opted to run quarterback Dakota Davis on a bootleg.
Davis scrambled into the end zone for the touchdown that would have put Crestview up by eight, but the Bulldogs were called for a hold on the play and were unable to get a first down on the next play setting up the winning Raider drive.
Rieves finished the night hitting 14-of-20 passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns. Casey had four catches for 76 yards and Leggett had seven catches for 74 yards.
Reed was once again the workhorse for the Bulldogs picking up 178 yards on 37 carries. Crestview finished the night with 247 yards in total offense.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Raiders rally past Bulldogs