By Chris Megginson / For the Reporter

SYLACAUGA – A penalty marker erased the go-ahead score Friday, as the Shelby County Wildcats watched their game-winning drive fall short with 1:20 to play. A holding call negated a successful 2-point conversion and the Sylacauga Aggies escaped with a 49-48 victory at Legion Stadium.

“I hate that we came up short. If we’d won tonight and next week we’d make the playoffs for the first time since 2009,” SCHS coach Heath Childers said. “I’m just really proud of my guys. They really played hard and wanted to be that first team in six years to get in the playoffs … I always tell them ‘your best will always be good enough for me,’ and how the guys played tonight, I got their best.”

Jamarius Mayfield dominated the ground game, racking up 310 yards and four touchdowns, including the final score to put the Wildcats in position to win.

“Mayfield was a warrior tonight. We started feeding him the ball with the sweeps and they couldn’t tackle him,” Childers said. “That last drive was sweeps and let’s get the ball to Jamarius. I knew we were going to score. I’d already told the coaches on the sideline, that we’re going to get the ball and go for two and win the ballgame.”

Shelby County opened the game with a 13-7 lead in the first quarter, but Sylacauga outpaced the Wildcats 21-7 in the second quarter to take a 28-20 lead into halftime.

“We had a couple of bad series on offense in the second quarter, and I made some poor choices on play calling that set us back behind the chains. They adjusted their defense and I didn’t adjust our offense,” Childers said.

The adjustments came in the second half though – sweeps to Mayfield, who had already racked up 207 yards in the first half.

“Our defense was able to get a couple of stops in the second half, that was the turning point for us in the third quarter,” Childers said.

SCHS managed to tie the game, 35-35, with an 89-yard touchdown pass from sophomore QB Chadwyn Russ to Deon Carter. It was the only pass of the game for Russ in his debut as the Wildcats’ quarterback.

The other two SC touchdowns belonged to Jacquan Buie, who collected 106 yards in his first game at fullback this season. Kevontae Mayfield had 31 yards at fullback in his return from injury.

“They (Buie and Kevontae Mayfield) made a huge difference because we were able to hammer the interior of their defense,” Childers said. “The offensive line blocked really well for us. They had a tough game last week against Beauregard, and they had some tough practices this week, but really stepped up tonight.”

Shelby County finished the game with 533 yards of offense, including 444 on the ground.

SCHS (2-6, 2-4 Class 5A, Region 3) will finish its season at home, hosting Talladega for its final region game Oct. 16, followed by an off week. The Wildcats will close the season Oct. 29 at home against Tarrant.