Controversial finish keeps Cards winless

 

LEXINGTON — A game full of missed opportunities came down to the final seconds, and for a moment, it looked like the George Rogers Clark Cardinals would have a solid shot at earning their first win of the season. Instead, officials ruled the game over and Clark left Tates Creek High School with a 46-39 loss to the Commodores.

The Cardinals (0-8) forced Tates Creek into a 4th-and-long with five seconds remaining. The Commodores lined up to punt, but the punt was a fake, designed to waste the final seconds. When the Cardinals forced the ball carrier out of bounds, the scoreboard showed three seconds, but the officials ruled the clock started late on the play, and that was the game.

The officials reset the game clock once in the final two minutes of play, but brushed off calls by the Cardinals coaching staff that the clock was running longer than it should have.

 

Despite the loss, the Cardinals offense was on fire.

Quarterback Luke Sharrock completed 15 of 24 passes for 172 yards and a touchdown. Sharrock completed three passes and rushed four times, including a touchdown run of one yard on Clark’s final drive. He finished with 90 yards rushing.

C.D. Spight led all rushers with 120 yards and two touchdowns. Davon Marshall caught seven passes for 75 yards.

Tates Creek was led by all-around player Dennis Oxendine.

Oxendine rushed for 55 yards with two scores, had seven receptions for 109 yards and a score and returned a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown.

 

Prep Football: Controversial finish keeps Cards winless - centralkynews.com

What's crazy is how ridiculous the "controversy" REALLY WAS. There wasn't anything. The punter on 4th down ran around for 10+ seconds. The clock never started. Wasn't even close. It was more a controversy out of desperation. Truly. Earlier in the 4th quarter the clock stayed at 732 for over 2 minutes while we yelled in vain at the scorekeeper. SMH. But the punter literally ran backwards and rolled around with no issue. It wasn't even close to being an issue.